The City shifts suddenly into night. Wow... Talk about a short day. Luckily, Elle has her Pip-Boy, so she lifts her arm to turn the light on. When she looks up again, she catches a bright light in the corner of her eye. Reflexively, she turns her head, and
her heart stops.
She knows that shape. She knows that building. With a painful jolt, her heart twists in her chest and she loses her breath. Some small voice in the back of her head warns her that it might be something else, it may just be another building, she shouldn't get her heart set on it, but it's drowned out by the surge of emotions. Hope. Homesickness. Longing. Desperation. Before she knows it, she's running.
She will remember the trip between where she was and where she's going as a blur. Nothing else mattered then except getting there.
And she did. And she was right.
The Lucky 38 greets her with all of its flashing lights. Something inside her -- everything that has been bubbling under the surface ever since her podpop -- breaks. She's starting to cry as she pulls open one of the casino's doors.
Through bleary vision, she checks out the state of the 38. Power is all on. Elevator is working. The cocktail lounge has no alcohol, but plenty of glasses and empty bottles, though behind the bar, she finds two crates, one filled with Sunset Sasparilla and one with Nuka-Cola. None of the things she had stored in the Presidential Suite are there, but she can't say she's surprised. At least some of my decorations are still here, she thinks as she looks at the three pool balls sitting on the coffee table in her bedroom. She's still not sure why she decided to pick up a cue ball, an 8 ball, and a 13 ball and set them up in her room like this. It just feels right somehow, if a little sad. She wishes she could remember the importance behind it.
When she arrives on the Penthouse floor, she finds it more empty than ever. There are no Securitrons. There is no hum and beep of electronics. A dread begins to grow in the back of her head. Slowly, she walks towards the main room. The survivalist in the back of her mind tries to warn her, prepare her. Logic says, you know better, don't get your hopes up, be ready...
The side monitors displaying feeds from the security cameras in the Lucky 38 are operational. But the big screen in the middle...
Connection lost...
Elle sinks to the floor, then, and cries. It's a helpless sort of crying, the kind born from the scared, lost little girl inside her. She had thought, she had hoped, maybe, just maybe, he would be here, waiting for her, and he would scold her for taking so long, but then he would have all the answers and know just what to do, but he isn't. Finally, profoundly, Elle feels alone and small and powerless in this place, this living, breathing ship floating through space on a mission to save the universe, far away from anything familiar and right and any place she might have called home and any people she might have once called family. It's all gone, they're all gone, save for a girl and a dog who don't know who she is and the people from who are still sleeping inside their pods. She's scared. She wants to go home. This building may have been the place she called home, but it's still all wrong, sitting on meaty ground instead of dead and desolate. She wants to go back where she knows the players, knows the people, and maybe she didn't know if she could actually help, but she still had... guidance. Something. Anything. Anything but this place and this situation.
She doesn't want it. She's never wanted any of it. Not Stacy, not the Ohm, not the Daligig, not the Platinum Chip. She just wants her memories back, she wants her purpose back, she wants a home and family and friends -- she just wants to not be alone.
After the tears finally stop and after she pulls herself together, she remembers that there is still one place in the 38 she hasn't checked. She takes a deep breath, picks herself up off the floor, and returns to the elevator.
♠ ♣ ♦ ♥
Her next stop is the Hidden Valley Bunker. Even if... it isn't in the Hidden Valley any more. Whatever. Elle needs to talk to Veronica. She's the only one who would really understand. Elle doesn't know how she will react to the news about the Lucky 38, but there's something else, something more important, that she needs to know. She would know who to talk to about what she found.
Securitrons... There are Securitrons in the basement. Elle hasn't been keeping up with what's been going on elsewhere in the ship, but she is absolutely certain the robots will be able to help. Without Mr. House to give them orders, she's not sure what they'll do with them, but she's also sure there are people on Stacy who are more technologically minded than she is and would be able to find some way to get around that problem. Or she could ask Stacy to find and podpop Mr. House. But Elle doubts that her luck is that good.
[ the lucky 38 | CLOSED ]
her heart stops.
She knows that shape. She knows that building. With a painful jolt, her heart twists in her chest and she loses her breath. Some small voice in the back of her head warns her that it might be something else, it may just be another building, she shouldn't get her heart set on it, but it's drowned out by the surge of emotions. Hope. Homesickness. Longing. Desperation. Before she knows it, she's running.
She will remember the trip between where she was and where she's going as a blur. Nothing else mattered then except getting there.
And she did. And she was right.
The Lucky 38 greets her with all of its flashing lights. Something inside her -- everything that has been bubbling under the surface ever since her podpop -- breaks. She's starting to cry as she pulls open one of the casino's doors.
Through bleary vision, she checks out the state of the 38. Power is all on. Elevator is working. The cocktail lounge has no alcohol, but plenty of glasses and empty bottles, though behind the bar, she finds two crates, one filled with Sunset Sasparilla and one with Nuka-Cola. None of the things she had stored in the Presidential Suite are there, but she can't say she's surprised. At least some of my decorations are still here, she thinks as she looks at the three pool balls sitting on the coffee table in her bedroom. She's still not sure why she decided to pick up a cue ball, an 8 ball, and a 13 ball and set them up in her room like this. It just feels right somehow, if a little sad. She wishes she could remember the importance behind it.
When she arrives on the Penthouse floor, she finds it more empty than ever. There are no Securitrons. There is no hum and beep of electronics. A dread begins to grow in the back of her head. Slowly, she walks towards the main room. The survivalist in the back of her mind tries to warn her, prepare her. Logic says, you know better, don't get your hopes up, be ready...
The side monitors displaying feeds from the security cameras in the Lucky 38 are operational. But the big screen in the middle...
Connection lost...
Elle sinks to the floor, then, and cries. It's a helpless sort of crying, the kind born from the scared, lost little girl inside her. She had thought, she had hoped, maybe, just maybe, he would be here, waiting for her, and he would scold her for taking so long, but then he would have all the answers and know just what to do, but he isn't. Finally, profoundly, Elle feels alone and small and powerless in this place, this living, breathing ship floating through space on a mission to save the universe, far away from anything familiar and right and any place she might have called home and any people she might have once called family. It's all gone, they're all gone, save for a girl and a dog who don't know who she is and the people from who are still sleeping inside their pods. She's scared. She wants to go home. This building may have been the place she called home, but it's still all wrong, sitting on meaty ground instead of dead and desolate. She wants to go back where she knows the players, knows the people, and maybe she didn't know if she could actually help, but she still had... guidance. Something. Anything. Anything but this place and this situation.
She doesn't want it. She's never wanted any of it. Not Stacy, not the Ohm, not the Daligig, not the Platinum Chip. She just wants her memories back, she wants her purpose back, she wants a home and family and friends -- she just wants to not be alone.
After the tears finally stop and after she pulls herself together, she remembers that there is still one place in the 38 she hasn't checked. She takes a deep breath, picks herself up off the floor, and returns to the elevator.
Her next stop is the Hidden Valley Bunker. Even if... it isn't in the Hidden Valley any more. Whatever. Elle needs to talk to Veronica. She's the only one who would really understand. Elle doesn't know how she will react to the news about the Lucky 38, but there's something else, something more important, that she needs to know. She would know who to talk to about what she found.
Securitrons... There are Securitrons in the basement. Elle hasn't been keeping up with what's been going on elsewhere in the ship, but she is absolutely certain the robots will be able to help. Without Mr. House to give them orders, she's not sure what they'll do with them, but she's also sure there are people on Stacy who are more technologically minded than she is and would be able to find some way to get around that problem.
Or she could ask Stacy to find and podpop Mr. House. But Elle doubts that her luck is that good.