The Capital Wasteland

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door from Milliways swings open on the blasting heat of the tail end of summer in the Wasteland. Dogmeat pads through first, leaning against the door to keep it open. It's part of the blackened, fragile remains of what was once the outer wall of a house. Crumbling concrete steps lead down from the door to a path that peters out almost immediately, the way ahead consumed long ago by the Waste.

"It still smells like smoke," Dogmeat whimpers. And he's right; there are still wisps of smoke rising from the scorch-edged crater up ahead.

Comments

[basic_powers]

One gloved hand just reaches out to stroke Dogmeat's ears and reassure him. Or it might be an action for Tyler to reassure himself.

"Alright...we'll creep up and see what's there...can you show me whe-"

"SccrrrRRRREEEEEAAAARCHHHKKK!!"

...Nevermind, whatever is in that crater is making the Tiny Deathclaw very, very cranky.

"Winston, NO! stop...aww..."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Thankfully, there's nothing alive in the crater at the moment. Which is good, because it's a big crater- if the marks in the ground are anything to go by, something close to the size of a single family house was forcibly pulled out of the ground here not long ago. All that's left are tossed rocks and scattered glowing rods about the size and thickness of a man's thumb.

Nevertheless, it does not feel like a good place to be.

[basic_powers]

...Tyler's head does a double take at those glowing rods about the size of a man's thumb. It's enough to make the boy stop for a moment.

"Dogmeat. You said Ellen disappeared in a flash of light. What color was it?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat eyes Tyler oddly.

"Color?"

... dogs are color-blind, Tyler.

[basic_powers]

...Not all dogs. Some of them can see blue and green.

Moon Shadow is just going to facepalm now. It would figure he'd get the truly colorblind dog.

Well...no way Ellen would've known that she was headed towards something related to that burny gun.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Regardless, Dogmeat noses at one of the shinies. "They smell just like that thing I found," he notes morosely. "Back at the place with the machines. I think they're the same."

[basic_powers]

"I know...they look exactly the same...and I asked you the color, because at that place with the machines...there was a green flash of light." He's going to collect some of them up...you never know what you might need them for...

...and seeing as he can barely see Winston's trail up ahead, the gadget hero is going to be booking it after the little raptor.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat pads along behind. If the little Deathclaw thing wants to run on ahead, that's fine with him. He'll just gather up a few of the glowing things while he can. His human seemed to like them.

(Winston, for his part, is trying to chew one open. He is not having much success.)

[basic_powers]

...Thing is, Tyler can't keep on Winston's clawmarks in the dirt...and still watch out for trouble.

And somewhere in all of this waste..something starts going 'EEEHhh HHHHhhh Eeeeh HHHHH'.

Or it does until a pinkish blur launches itself at the short human.

"AUUUGGGH!"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Fortunately, Dogmeat knows what THOSE are pretty well. The instant the mole rat leaps into view, the dog goes after it, snarling and snapping and clawing for a hold on the hideous thing's throat. It's almost as big as he is, but it's not nearly as nimble, so it doesn't stand much of a chance.

Mind you, the other two starting down the edge of the crater are another story.

[basic_powers]

...There are a few noises that will actually distract the mini cyber-raptor. One is 'LIVER' and one of the others is his packmates distress noise.

He's now realizing he may've left his pack undefended, and is racing back.

Moon Shadow, however, has his lightsaber out in the first defensive katas. There are going to be molerats learning that the lil armored human is not easy meal.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Luckily for everyone concerned, mole rats aren't predators by nature. They attack what's in front of them if it looks like it might get in their way, but they aren't really evolved for combat, except with each other.

They really aren't prepared for being smacked around with the training saber. Or for two sets of teeth and claws shredding anything ratty within reach.

[basic_powers]

Soon enough, the Wasteland is much improved for having 3 less Mole Rats living on it's surface. And Tyler is just going to be doing his best to not throw up from the smell of all the carnage.

Winston's already shoving his head inside of the remains of the two he took care of, rooting around for his favorite dining organ.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat's willing to let him have it. He and Ellen ate not long before she disappeared; he's hardly got enough room in his stomach for a few bites, right now.

"I don't smell any more," he reports, sniffing the wind as he turns this way and that. "I don't think anything else is coming. We should be safe."

[basic_powers]

...Winston's almost always hungry, or looking for a fight. He does give Dogmeat's rat a look as if asking 'you gonna eat that?'.

"That's good I think...." The saber gets retracted and slung back onto the belt. "Let's keep going."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat backs away from the rat. Winston is welcome to it.

"Okay," he says to Tyler readily. "What are we looking for?"

[basic_powers]

"We're looking for the exact place that Ellen disappeared from..."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh. Over here," says Dogmeat, and turns around to lead the way. It's down by the deepest part of the crater.

"There was a big metal thing here, too," he notes. "It went away when she did."

[basic_powers]

...That's the kind of helpful that isn't really all that helpful. If it disappeared, they've got no way of tracking where it went to, only that it was here. And Dogmeat's definition of 'metal things' could be any number of devices.

"..and it didn't leave any tracks?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It went straight up a little, and then there was the huge light, and then it was gone," Dogmeat clarifies. "The same as what happened to my person."

Meanwhile, Winston's eaten his livers and is sniffing around for more of those glowing sticks. They were fun to chew on. There don't seem to be any around here, but there's a sort of a feeling-trail leading away from the crater, like someone dragged one some distance or something. Maybe he'll go look?

[basic_powers]

"Korh." Cue the raptor doing instinct's best imitation of snuffling the ground before trotting along the feeling-trail at an easy trot.

He's not losing his person this time.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat whurfs urgently and noses at Tyler's hand before starting off after the creature. At least it's leading the way out of the crater; he doesn't like it in here much.

The surface area nearby is smoke-stained in a few places, and dinged up with the detritus of a large object uprooted without warning. It's hot and sunbaked and generally not much fun to look at. What it is not, however, is particularly metallic in and of itself, and so the glint of something metallic about fifty yards away stands out among the grasses.

[basic_powers]

"Krrrrrrraaaarrrh.."

Tyler's following after another metallic glint actually...but the other one seems to be Winston's target...

"What'd you find boy..."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

He's found an object about two-thirds the size of a baseball bat, with a rubbery black grip at one end and a bulbous expanded section at the other. It's a good, solid device, whatever it is, and it shows no sign of being all that damaged by the raptor's teeth.

[basic_powers]

"Wrrrrrrrrgrrkkgrrkk..." And to Winston, it's the best chew toy in existence. He's making those happy chewing noises, not all that dissimilar from a dog's.

"...I don't know where Ellen went...but we'll find some shelter..and keep looking, okay?"