Tempest

@tempesttragedy​ gets VERONICA JONES

“You need a hand?”

She pauses midway through tightening up some of the LOOSE pauldrons on Zeke’s power armor before peaking over to see Erec in the midst of repairs of his own. She didn’t really GET TO SEE HIM MUCH–––she figured it was because of those MYSTERIOUS FRIENDS of his, but she didn’t really question it. She rather fancied the help.

“You’re getting a little sweaty down there and I would rather you didn’t pass out from heat exhaustion you know.”

She chuckles a little, hopping down from her two step ladder before crouching down on her knees beside him, tucking her skirt out of the wait for ease of movement.

“I won’t ask too many questions, scout’s honor.”

“Nah, I got it-” in reality, he has very much not got it. oil is leaking onto his hands, and the grimace on his lips shows just how aware of this fact he is. “... just ... might need a hand cleaning up...” 

hands finally retract, giving up on the oil cap and allowing it to fall to the floor in defeat. a sigh is uttered, and Erec finally looks to Veronica with a weary frown.

“So I’ve heard once or twice.”

The fate of the world, life itself hanging in the balance– still impossible to wrap his head around. It was easier to just appear indifferent. His smile was a polite but waning one. “I’m just doing what is expected, Warden. As are you, I hear. Or… not so much?”

“Obviously the questions about where the Wardens are have been loud and constant. I don’t assume you can answer that, can you? But you can answer where you have been…”

“ah- what’s expected.” a polite smile graces her own lips, but it does not reach her eyes, which instead seem to harden with his question. 

“I cannot speak for the rest of the wardens, but as for myself, I have been looking for a cure to the Calling. as useful as we are during a Blight, well -” a shrug, and Raina spreads her arms. “we are not in a blight any longer.” 

of course, the matter of Duty was one which many would speak of; were they not obligated to continue their service; to proliferate on the off chance another Blight was started? Raina cared little for such arguments, however, offering a simple raised brow instead. 

@tempesttragedy​ sent:  “I’m right here.” ( from laura )

Oleksandr’s   head   lulls   for   a   moment.   He’s   been   struck   over   the   head   with   something.   He   didn’t   see   what   it   was,   and   to   be   entirely   honest,   he   didn’t   care   what   it   was.   His   vision   is   blurry;   it   is   a   familiar   sensation.   He   blinks   hard,   shaking   his   head   lightly.   «   Laura..?   »   he   questions,   half-lidded   gaze   watching   her   closely.   «   I   still   did   it..   »   He   murmurs,   right   hand   raising   to   produce   the   implant   he   was   tasked   with   retrieving.   «   I   still   got   the   implant..   »

“hey, don’t worry about that right now-” voice is hushed, gaze flickering in search of whoever might have knocked him out. finding no one, however, Laura swiftly moves to Oleksandr’s side, taking and tucking away the implant before making the effort to help him up. 

“ well  corn-nuts,  if  you  really  want  to,  we  can  have  a  drink  or  two  together.  my  present  to  you  is  that  i  won’t  kick  you  in  the  gut. ”  she  grins  widely.  

she  has  known  the  MOJAVE  DESERT  more  than  she  has  known  the  commonwealth,  even  more  than  her  home  of  the  captial,  because  of  that,  ramona  still  saw  herself  as  a  stranger  in  the  lands  of  the  east,  even  if  she  were  born  there.  

despite  that,  she  has  certainly  heard  of  the  MINUTEMEN.  a  bunch  of  do-gooders  who  went  around  developing  community  after  community  &  helping  those  in  need.  (  and  someone  laura  associates  with,  that  she  knows.  )

ramona  smirks.  “ i  hear  they’re  a  bunch  of  goody-two-shoes, ”  she  says  with  a  chuckle.  “ they  help  people,  ya  know?  they  make  communities,  they  protect  the  innocent.  they  usually  depend  on  a  certain  someone  to  do  all  their  bidding. ”  she  understood  that  all  too  much.  “ is  there  a  reason  why  you’re  askin’? ”  and  asking  ramona  nonetheless.  

“I need to talk to someone,” Alia confesses easily, though no details are forthcoming. “I was headed to the Castle, but there are raiders demanding a toll on the ways into Boston.” 

It was difficult enough to traverse the Commonwealth without an escort, and the Brotherhood had at least had the decency to supply her with some armor, but that didn’t help anything when it came to finding supplies or buying them.

Half a smirk rests on his face now watching the other. It was interesting. Sure, this wasn’t the first he’d come across and surely it wouldn’t be the last. But even still, it surprised him each time to see that evil still skulked about in the corners of the world. And though Lucio didn’t indulge all that much anymore, he could tell that the other hadn’t quite sorted that out just yet.

‘Acquainted’, he says. How strange. Most he met were lonely souls like him. Kept to themselves. “Perhaps you’re right,” Old habits died hard, and Lucio now intended to keep an eye on this one. “After all, there are a few things I’d like to keep for myself. A courtesy, I’m sure you understand. You may call me Lucio.”

“Lucio... Excellent.” offering a gloved hand, Cronus arches a brow and introduces himself - “Most folks call me Cro... when I let ‘em, that is.” though his glasses obscure his eyes, there is a mischievous glint even in his smile. 

“Hands-on experience at the expense of my own,” Taylor sighs. As much as she knows they’re fighting for the same limited screen time, it’s still frustrating. There’s supposed to be order, hierarchy to it all. It’s a shit industry to break into, but Taylor’s always loved that once you’ve found your place, once you’ve fought for it, it’s yours.

It’s an oversimplification. Just as her thinking that truth, plain and simple truth, will come out on top. It’s not just truth, it’s how you tell it. How you spin it into something people want to see. People don’t want murders but serial killers; sting of robberies instead of just a one of because someone’s desperate from cash. “I guess I just have to up my game.” Find something juicy that’ll get syndicated to other stations. 

“Of course. that’s always how it is.” of course, the words are spoken with derision directed solely at those who made those these decisions; Laura is far too familiar, both from her time in the military and working in the private sector.

eyes light up suddenly, but are halted by hesitation. 

“Somethin’ like that,” Lucio nods idly, having spotted this creature from a ways off and decided to come say hello. He was curious what he was doing here, but Lucio had a slight idea.

“Raiding parties keep picking off settlers. Caravans. I was asked as a favor to help. And you? Here for the show?”

“I was a kid once, Garvey.”  And besides, sometimes a classic is a classic for a reason, and…Just another joke no one will get out here.  He’s starting to become uncomfortably familiar with the way Steve must have felt all those years ago, first out of the ice, and he can’t say he’s a fan.

His gaze lingers a moment longer toward the Glowing Sea, a line forming unseen between his eyebrows behind the faceplate.  Honestly, Preston has literally no idea how right he is in his assessment, because truth be told, gun, something from Cambridge Polymer Labs, whatever…Having an idea of who, but not what, he’s going to be tracking down leaves him…Uneasy.  Makes him feel unprepared.  Hulk…Hulk you can mostly count on to smash.  But not always.  He can be more unpredictable than he thinks anyone ever really considered in days gone by.  One that’s been soaking in the rads this long?  This is gonna require more planning than he can do with his thumb up his ass, at the edge of the livable Commonwealth.

“Yeah…Yeah, I know the place.”  And he does, in the pre-war sense.  Had some dealings with them way back when.  Has something of what would have been an insider’s view into their little corporate and r&d world, but the details are fuzzy - a lot has happened between then and now.  “I’m already rad proof, but-”  But he has an implant that can possibly leave him susceptible to all kinds of nasty things, if he’s not careful.

“A little extra icing on the cake never made anyone sad.”  But this is all a task for future Tony to plan and handle.  Current Tony is supposed to be doing Minutemen things, not ruminating over lost souls he used to know possibly (definitely) dwelling in an irradiated hellscape.  He shakes himself, mentally, back to the present.  “Hell of a march from here to Cambridge proper, though.  And something tells me you won’t be a fan of the Iron Uber treatment as a shortcut, but I honestly think we’re wasting time out here.  Nothing but…Ferals and supermutants and I’m at least eighty percent sure I saw a deathclaw on that ridge.”

He jerks a thumb over his shoulder, out back toward the decrepit power junction a ways back, framed behind by the foothills.  “So if we’re gonna parade march out of here, we probably should.”

“ ’course you were. just figured maybe you asked Santa for... lasers, or something else scientific.” preston frowns just a little, considering what else the world before nuclear war might have contained in terms of science-based products. whatever there might have been, they certainly weren’t particularly abundant nowadays... except, perhaps, in improvised chem stations.

He pulls himself from drifted focus, offering a nod at Tony’s words- though his lips purse at the mention of the ‘Iron Uber’. definitely not something he was eager to try. Hazardous was just one word to come to mind at the mere mention. 

“Anything helps, right? Even if it’s something to tackle later on.” A glance is spared in the direction indicated, and pursed lips turn downward into a frown. “and Deathclaw or not, I have to agree that it’s best not to stick around. This close to the Glowing Sea? We’re bound to run into a radstorm or two, and the last thing we need right now is to worry about that on top of whatever else there is out here...” Lucky for them that most Raiders weren’t usually stupid enough to set up camp in the vicinity for the very same reason, eliminating one potential enemy.

“who says I couldn’t kick your ass now?” a coy smirk tugs at her lips as a brow is arched in his direction. she had been practicing on the punching bag rather than sparring with him, but eye contact is maintained as she delivers a solid roundhouse kick that, in an act of perfect timing, splits open the worn fabric of the sandbag.

Her attention is quickly drawn to the spilling sand, a grin going so far as to show teeth as she watches.

she looks back to Adrian somewhat mischievously, gesturing at the bag proudly. 

where you are heard

“you need sleep,” jemma says gently. she considers pouring herself a cup, tea not hot chocolate, but decides against it. the caffeine won’t help nor do the usual, sleepy-time options sound appealing - sometimes, it just feels mocking. “it’ll catch up eventually.” one way or another, the lack of sleep won’t be pretty. “i’ve seen enough people crash and burn. i don’t want it to happen to you.”

“I’ll be alright.” Laura offers a halfhearted smile and a shrug. “I’ll catch up this weekend.” it’s about as genuine as her smile, more a dismissive line than any real commitment. as likely to happen as her getting to sleep tonight.

“What part of ‘I make sure’ do you not understand?” He asks, giving his own cocked eyebrow down at her. If there was one thing he hated, it was others doubtfulness of his ability.

“And with all these thoughts floating around in your head, you still allow me nearby. Are you a big risk taker Laura? A gambler?”

she rolls her eyes at his retaliation, but takes him at his word this time. odd. she wouldn’t have done that not so long ago.