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Post by Lockdown on Apr 2, 2018 0:51:23 GMT
Cecil spots the girls gathered around what looks like an incredibly old man in a weird hat at first glance. Getting closer... he finds that the "hat" is a massive mushroom cap growing out of the man's head. He has a kindly, gentle smile on his face as he speaks in a creaky voice to the girls, first to Kat, then to Christine.
The Sage still looked sympathetic as he listened to Kat, giving her one last pat on the arm before he withdrew his hand. "An injured trunk can grow back stronger sometimes, yes. But only if it is given support while it heals." He smiles at Christine. "But you have chosen well in the support you lean upon I think."
The smile slips from his face as he considers Christine's question. "The Vaults... they were a lie child. A lie told by the greedy, the powerful, in order to help save themselves. Each Vault was designed with a purpose in mind. An... experiment, so to speak, that made up the core of the concept for that particular Vault. Some were designed as 'control Vaults'. Others were... data storage for information that needed to be monitored, computer simulations that had to be tweaked and adjusted as the data was run through again and again..."
He looks away, uncomfortable now. "I was... part of that. A biological technician for Vault-Tec. It's how I know so much, to answer the question that everyone asks." He smiles again, though it's a little bitter. "There are a number of vaults in the area around Seattle, thanks to the heavy military presence in the city before the Cataclysm. I honestly could not tell you how many. But know this, if you delve into one... be wary. Check the computers, holotapes, anything; that can tell you what happened down there. It can be the difference between life, death... or worse," he looks towards the diner for a brief moment.
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6,666 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Mar 26, 2024 17:35:49 GMT
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Post by Robot on Apr 2, 2018 12:47:23 GMT
"You didn't get your fill of mutants in 116?!" Cecil snapped as his hand closed on Christine's shoulder and spun her towards him. Anxiety, irritation, and an undertone of fear in his voice. "I gave you one instruction and you do the exact opposite!" He kept his voice low so as to not draw a crowd, but his distress was clear. His breathing was fast and shallow, adrenaline running high. "Amber's with Slane, and we've got places to be, come on."
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Post by DataNinja on Apr 2, 2018 19:06:09 GMT
Christine is barely able to digest what the Sage had revealed, before Cecil spins her around. "No." She also doesn't raise her voice, but she says it with some force. "Kat has vouched for him, so if you have a problem with that, take it up with her." Hopefully that lends some credence to this, because it's certainly not something she'd have done on her own. "And I think that it would be worth taking the time to talk with him. He just..." she chokes a little on the words, "just told us about the Vaults. How he used to be a technician for them, and what their purpose was. And... after seeing everything from the hellhole we were just in... all the records, what happened from the moment everyone was brought in... it just it makes sense." She buries her face in her hands. "I don't want it to be true. But if it is true... what does that mean? What's going on at home? I just... don't know."
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Post by Lockdown on Apr 6, 2018 0:55:19 GMT
The sage arches one wrinkled brow at Cecil's outburst. He holds up a hand in a gesture of peace, but doesn't reach out to Cecil. "Calm yourself young man, please. I can see that you have had... a poor interaction with an individual like me. I'm afraid that the transformation into a..." he lips quirk in a gentle smile, "mutant, can be mentally taxing, especially if the pokerus variant that tips them over the edge is that of a particularly violent or volatile type. Your companion had questions, and I was merely attempting to answer them. I will harm none that do not raise their hand against me; and even then my skills lie in temporarily disabling rather than dealing death." He getures to a clear area, well out of arm's reach for the withered man, but still close enough to speak. "I can ask the diner to send us out some tea, and we can talk. Perhaps I can help abate some of your fears?"
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6,666 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Mar 26, 2024 17:35:49 GMT
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Post by Robot on Apr 6, 2018 12:15:53 GMT
Cecil's expression softened a little as Christine tried to reconcile something he had already long since come to terms with, and had been steeling himself for the coming battle with Skrub. How to explain this to her in a way that wouldn't upset her further. His eyes gravitated towards the weathered elementalist, he tried to place the face but it wouldn't come to him. "You got a way of spinning things that understates them, and I'm finding that mentally taxing." Taking a deep breath, Cecil pressed a thumb and pointer finger into his eyes.
"Christine, I'm getting to the bottom of home when we get back, don't you worry about that. If it turns out it's the same kind of sick as what we just crawled out of, it'll be one hell of an exodus." Cecil's attention wound back to the Sage. "What we dealt with was as old as you, hand crafted the genetics himself, and used something far stronger as a base. The remaining sample decided Kat was best for its safety. Like I said, shit to do, places to be."
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Post by DataNinja on Apr 6, 2018 17:22:35 GMT
"Cecil," Christine says, looking up at him, "I... really don't know how you stay calm, composed through all of this. I thought I was decent at that... but it's been, what... a week, two weeks? I don't even know anymore. The world's just been turning upside down, and every time I think I've got a grasp on it, something new happens, and I just..." she trails off.
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6,666 posts
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92 likes
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Mar 26, 2024 17:35:49 GMT
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Post by Robot on Apr 7, 2018 12:48:47 GMT
"You hold on to the things you know you can count on, and take everything else as it comes. Its been me against the world as long as I can remember, the world changing doesn't change that, so I take in what makes me stronger and fuck the rest." Tentatively, he brushed a little hair out of the medic's face. The first affectionate gesture he'd made towards her in their time together.
"Yeah, alright. We can have tea."
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Feb 27, 2023 22:33:22 GMT
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Post by Seya on Apr 7, 2018 22:30:45 GMT
"You two are goddamn exhausting," Kat says, not having felt comfortable to interject into their little spat until it seemed Cecil had calmed down. While his disdain towards mutants was... somewhat understandable, she supposed, it also made her wince that he'd tried to lump the Sage (and Kat herself, a whisper reminded her) into the same group as those monstrosities from the Vault.
Shrugging it off with a somewhat-feigned smile, she meandered over to the spot the Sage had indicated towards, keeping an eye out to make sure the others were following. Tea wasn't quite her style, but less of a tense atmosphere would be great.
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Post by Lockdown on Apr 11, 2018 0:26:52 GMT
The ancient elementalist gestured, and out of the bushes... waddled, yes, waddled was the best word any of the group could come up with to describe how it moved, a massive mushroom with long tapered "hands" and an oddly thin neck and small head beneath the massive cap that crowned it. It swayed and smiled blankly as it headed for the diner; returning shortly with a tray, several mugs, sugars and other additives in small bowls, and a large pot of tea all balanced atop its hands.
In the interim the Sage had been quiet, allowing the three young ones to settle themselves, and watching the children resume playing with the grass-types after stopping to stare at the sudden explosion of noise that Cecil had kicked up.
As the tea arrived, the Sage poured for everyone, passing out the mugs, before he took one for himself, adding a dollop of honey and a squirt of lemon to the whole thing. Enjoying the fragrance for a moment before he took a sip, he studied Cecil with wise, weary eyes. "As I told your young companion, you have questions. Ask, and I shall answer as best I can."
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Post by DataNinja on Apr 13, 2018 21:34:11 GMT
Christine accepts the tea, and takes a sip to be polite, though she doesn't really have much of an appetite at the moment. She calms herself down, focusing, as the Sage addresses Cecil, then waits for his question... and waits.
Eventually, she grows fed up with it, and turns to Cecil. "Okay, enough of that," she says, forcefully. "What did you just say? You 'take in what makes you stronger'. Well, you've got someone here who knows more about things up here and what has happened over since the Vaults than anyone else we've met so far. And looking down on him because he's a mutant? Get. The hell. Over it. Most of them are no less people than anyone else. We just happen to be less human. And this isn't the Vaults. It doesn't matter up here." Christine takes some deep breaths, trying to calm herself down again.
"You need to get it through your head, Cecil," she says, going softer, "that it's okay to not do everything by yourself. And right now we have someone who we could ask about the Vaults. The surface world in general. Where there might be places to find the parts we need, in case where we're looking doesn't pan out. What we might expect if we venture out from this little part of the world. We got knowledge down there, Cecil. But it's not enough. Next time if something comes up, we won't be able to solve our problems like that. I don't want to have another situation where I fail because I just don't know. And I feel like you don't, either."
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6,666 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Mar 26, 2024 17:35:49 GMT
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Post by Robot on Apr 13, 2018 21:54:16 GMT
Cecil snorted into the beverage at Christine's outburst. He'd been nursing the cup, which tasted surprisingly familiar, but herbal flavors seemed to be a common staple on the surface. Expression a passive mask, he'd been visually taking in the sage all that while, slipping between a challenging staredown and wary gauging in those moments he felt himself waver. "Listen, he doesn't exactly strike as the type people say 'Hey come on in, let's talk awhile." He quipped boredly. "I guess Purewater is making a big deal about him, so sure, I'll bite. Really should have remembered to buy some smokes when I was out earlier..."
Through with his mumbling, Cecil squared his shoulders and wrapped his hands around the cup in his lap. "Knowing what questions to ask is important." He explained to Christine. "Does the old vault-co factory still stand, and is there a database containing the vaults, their locations, and prime directives somewhere in it?"
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Post by Lockdown on Apr 18, 2018 3:46:33 GMT
The sage chuckles dryly at the interplay between the two of you. "You must care for one another quite a bit to become so heated in your words." When Cecil mentions cigarettes, he produces a pack, sealed in plastic. "Here young man, I keep some on me for trading... but they're not something I enjoy all that much anymore."
Cecil recognizes the brand, they're Vault-Tech Extruder brand. Same as the stuff he got from home.
"As to your question about the Vault-Tech facility? Oh yes it's still there. Hard to get to, but it's still standing. And yes, they would have a listing of the local Vaults, along with some notations on what kind of experiments are being conducted. You'll probably need to find the secure servers, but if they're still intact and you can hack into them, you should be golden." He turns and gestures towards the west. "The North-West Coast Vault-Tech regional Headquarters is located across the sound, next to the Naval Submarine Base Bangor. However," he holds up a digit, "the way is long and trecherous. Many factions exist along the way, some that may harm you, some that may be willing to ally to you. Raider gangs, strange cults..." he reaches up and rubs at his chin, "I've even heard tell of rumblings of Old World machines and weapons. All this and more would stand in your way. It will be hard, yes... but not impossible."
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6,666 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Mar 26, 2024 17:35:49 GMT
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Post by Robot on Apr 18, 2018 10:11:03 GMT
"... Christine is important." Was all the greaser would admit, a little color finding its way into his cheeks and the tips of his ears. His tone was even, and relaxed, and he didn't protest nearly as much as he might. This was the sort of statement that you couldn't fight, so he wasn't giving it the effort.
Cecil eyed the package of cigarettes with a wary longing, but gave in quickly to his wants as he often did. Curbing his enthusiasm just enough to avoid snatching the package, he made a show of slowly unwrapping it. "Thanks Pops." He sat at attention and listened intently, it was about what he expected. Their facility was a vault itself, after all, or at least contained one.
"Speaking of cults." He lit the cigarette that had been tucked into the corner of his mouth and left for politeness sake. A long puff brightened the cherry to a hot orange, and he visibly relaxed. He'd missed this. "I need everything you know about the Gene Children. Their religious sites, habits, doctrine, power bases, and leaders. They took something from me, so I'll take everything from them." He stated casually.
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Post by DataNinja on Apr 18, 2018 17:58:40 GMT
"He has his moments," Christine says, softly chuckling, before turning more to the matter at hand. "I don't suppose you have a map," she muses, "But... I guess it'll probably be obvious if we get close. Probably has all the parts we'd need, too."
She's a bit thrown by Cecil's question about the Gene Children. After the events of the last two days, they'd fled from the forefront of her mind, replaced by Vaults, genetics, mutations... but now it comes flooding back. "Cecil," she says, after a moments thought of what he might actually listen to, "We're just a handful of people. We have a job to do, And there's no sense just risking our lives for this. It's probably best to just steer clear, and not let them have a chance to take anything more."
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6,666 posts
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92 likes
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Mar 26, 2024 17:35:49 GMT
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Post by Robot on Apr 19, 2018 0:18:25 GMT
"Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. Not the Pokerus that heavily permeates the places they think are sacred. Not the ridiculously powerful Pokemon, or elementalists that come of the surviving cases." Cecil took another long, slow draw on his smoke. "They're an infection Christine. They took Joe, and Bunnie has checked out, probably forever. She was the one person I mighta settled down with. I could've tolerated being blue collar and breaking my back to put food on the table, if it meant coming home to her every night. Been faithful, settled into the vault and just went till I dropped like everyone else. Maybe even had kids. That dream is dead now."
"I'm ready to amputate everything they've ever touched and cauterize it all in fire. To become the kind of scourge people talk about in hushed voices states over. You talk about numbers... I've got a geneticist, a chemist, demolitions expert and mechanic, access to a robotics technician, two elementalists, and two vaults. In under a month. If you won't help me, then I'll do it without you, I know how you feel about violence." His tone carried fierce and hot, giving way to some semblance of calm and empathy towards the end of the statement.
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Post by DataNinja on Apr 19, 2018 1:03:33 GMT
"If you think I'm going to let you go off places without me again," Christine says, "You're out of your mind. The last monster we fought, you almost killed yourself fighting it." She sighs and shakes her head. "I know that I can't get the parts alone. I need the rest of you for that. So I can't in good conscience let you go off without someone to keep you patched up."
She looks up, and stares into the blue infinity for some time, before returning her gaze to Cecil. "Look... I know enough about you to know there's no way I'll be able to talk you out of this. At least not when you're in this state of mind. But... before you try anything, can we please get Joyce back to her home, and start that place on its road to healing? Because I don't want you going off without me, but I also don't want to risk the knowledge they need never getting back to them."
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6,666 posts
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92 likes
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Apr 19, 2018 12:17:39 GMT
"It was a calculated risk, and I had you there." Cecil rebutted gently. "If I can count on anything, it is you putting in an effort when someone's in a bad way." He visually followed her sojourn into the sky, watching the clouds carried along on a wind they couldn't feel, only looking back at her again when he heard the rustle of fabric.
"We take care of our own first. Get Bunnie and that component back to 316, then you can look after the Joys. We got plenty of time to get into it between now and then, I'm sure."
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Post by DataNinja on Apr 19, 2018 17:38:56 GMT
"Cecil," she chides, "I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker. However good you may think I am, there are things that I can't fix. Unfortunately," her tone becomes mock serious, "suicidal recklessness is one of those things."
"Alright," she says, "That's not... too far out of our way." She tries to keep rather vague, given that they're still in the middle of a town that might want that location. Though, the Sage probably knows where it is by number alone. "I'll talk to Joyce about it."
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Post by Slytherclaw on Apr 19, 2018 18:47:56 GMT
At some point during her work, during a particularly monotonous point of screwing in some bits that doesn't actually take thought, Amber looks up at Slane and considers him for a moment. Her mind flickers to the earlier conversation with Cecil.
"Slane?" She asks. "Do you do any work with unusual power sources? We've seen a lot of strange pokemon with...there's the electricity generators, obviously, and the fire breathers, maybe with water users for steam generation in more static designs..." She pauses, thoughtful suddenly as she considers her home vault's energy problems, but makes a mental note to return to it.
"We've also seen stranger things, like...force generators? Ah...psychics? And I think there was even some sort of psychic memory crystal at one point...could something like that be used to power or control a bot?"
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Post by Lockdown on Apr 20, 2018 0:31:32 GMT
Slane paused, scratching at his matted hair with oily fingers. "Alternative energy sources eh? The monsters, they're unstable, untrustworthy. Could be hooked up, the civvies do it here after all. But not trustworthy, no. Cold steel, unfeeling and unthinking, makes for better ways to harness power. Oil and Coal are gone, but batteries, yes batteries. Suck all the energy from the sparky little devils, give them some use in their brutal lives," the man is nodding rapidly now, before suddenly stopping stock still. "But possible, possible it is. Before I left, heard tell of some ways to harness other powers. Spirits, minds, eldritch energies of the fae, yes. Makes the chassis finicky s'what I heard, unreliable. Wants to do as the power source wishes, not what the master commands, yes..."
He pauses, scratches at his beard and then looks at Amber and smiles congenially. "Would you like some tea? I think that this is all the work I can have from you for now, yes."
After a brief cuppa, Slane will firmly shoo the girl out, though he does mention a few robotics companies like Rob-Co that were in action before the Cataclysm. He speaks of them in a longing manner, and talks about a central distribution hub that they had in the Old City before the place 'went to hell', in his words. He lets slip the general location of the place, on the eastern border of the city, but far enough in that he daren't go himself.
If Amber asks, she'll easily get directions to the scene where her friends are partaking of tea with a strange old man, while massive pokemon are at play around them with the majority of the town's children.
The Sage has watched this interplay over his teacup with dark eyes, before nodding slowly. "It's a monumental task you've set to yourself, the Gene Children are like Magikarp, able to proliferate in even the foulest and inhospitable of surroundings. As for their organization, it's not as united as you may think. They're subdivided into sects that favor one pokemon type over another. The nearest one I'm aware of favors Dark types, using chicanery and illusions to help their goals. They keep in rough contact with the sects that they favor, and keep tabs on their 'rival' sects. I imagine a raid on their compounds would allow you to gather quite the haul of information."
"I wish you the best of luck. I'm a single old man, so I tend to avoid their strongholds as best I can. But the sect I told you about is holed up in what was once a wonderful, er, nightclub I frequented when I was younger. The Moonwalk, about a two days by foot to the north-west." He'll give you the coordinates to the place on your vault-dexes. He pats Kat on the shoulder as he leans back once more. "Good luck to you all."
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