In the Shadow of the Valley

[snarkingscribe]

Who: OPEN
Where: Outskirts of the City
Summary: Veronica discover a slice of home out on the outer areas of the city.


Not too far off from Central Park, there is a fenced-in sandy area. The only noteworthy things here are some bunkers and vents, and a lot of graffiti on the bunker walls. The sand has footprints - ones that look a bit hurried, actually - that lead to one structure. The door is open - as is the second door inside, which leads to a long staircase, leading into an obviously military installation - quite abandoned, from the looks of things, save for the periodic sound of footsteps and clicking nails on the metal floors and grates.

There's someone here, that's for sure.

Comments

[snarkingscribe]

Rex barks again, but sniffs the hand and gladly receives the petting with a pleased pant before plunking his metal butt on the ground. Veronica comes around the corner after a few moments, pausing as she gets a look at Stephen's eyewear. "...whoa."

[sonofether]

Stephen got to his feet, brows arching above the goggles. "Oh," he said. "I'm sorry, I hadn't really expected anyone to be here."

Maybe he was approaching Morgan-levels of obliviousness. He gave a sheepish grin, before shrugging and gesturing to the dog.

"Is he yours? Did you build him? If so, he's pretty impressive."

[snarkingscribe]

"Don't sweat it, it's not exactly a bastion of activity around here, so I'm not gonna blame you," she answers with a smirk.

She glances at Rex and sighs a bit. "Well. Not quite. Kinda...watching over him until one of his proper masters wakes up, I guess." If they're even in the pods... "No, Rex was like this when I met him."

[sonofether]

"Oh. Still, he's fascinating, I haven't reached any great depths of biological research, so..." Stephen trailed off, then looked sheepish. "Which shouldn't suggest that I'm going to do anything like that. Certain things are theory-only."

His mouth twisted again, and he snorted a little. "I doubt you'd be nearly so forgiving if you knew I was considering making off with some of the scrap metal around here. But again, I won't. Well, unless things on the ship get worse than they are."

Hell, Stephen would gut his own lab, his uncle's lab (if he ever found it), AND Doissetep, if it came to that, if things got really bad.

[snarkingscribe]

"Yeeeah, definitely. Wish some of the people back home had the sense to think like that." Good god, the things Veronica had heard about Big Mountain from the Courier...

Veronica gives him a look at that admission. "You'd be right, but at least now you're in a position to ask first."

[sonofether]

Stephen just spread his hands, but had the grace to look guilty. "I'm a Scientist, madam. It's difficult to do without materials. Still, if I need something, I'll ask first. At least you could tell me what I'm looking at, in that regard. I think I'd prefer a tour guide, at that."

If only because this looked stranger than anything he'd ever seen in his family's laboratories--well. Maybe not Drake's, but his uncle was nearly a law unto himself.

"Besides, you do look like you know your way around a wrench, not to mention this place. To wit, what do you think about an offer of mutual assistance?"

[snarkingscribe]

Veronica smirks, then folds her arms. "Well, you're looking at the bunker of the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel - and usually the way we deal with outsiders is to strap a bomb to their neck and make you do some bullcrap loyalty-test stuff to make sure you're on the level, but luckily, we're fresh out of bomb collars." She pauses, then shrugs. "...and most of the stuff that we'd be worried about outsiders seeing anyway."