Ichigo

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens on the cracked and blasted asphalt of what used to be a parking lot. A fair number of rusted car hulks (and we do mean hulks; these ex-cars are huge) litter the lot, most of them long since burnt out or corroded away. Overhead the remains of a cloudburst are scuddering past, headed east on the high winds, and in the distance the yipping of wild dogs can be heard.

"This is where I came in from," Ellen says to Ichigo as she holds open the door. "I'm sorry it's not more presentable."

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[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

Ichigo steps through with a look of amazement in his eyes, trying to take everything in as he takes his first few steps out of the bar. He breathes deep, and though the air smells of something burning and foul, he can't remember ever being so happy to smell the real world. Any real world.

"Shit, Ellen, you really weren't exaggerating about this place. It's a total dump." As he looks around, Ichigo adjusts his sword, trying to hide most of it behind his back. Dressed in normal clothing (shinigami robes are never inconspicuous), Ichigo feels a bit strange with his sword on his back, bandages slung across his chest to hold his sword in place. The same bandages wrap all around the blade, hiding the dark metal from view. While it's not obviously a sword at first glance, the weapon is still quite hard to keep out of sight. Ichigo just hopes he'll find little reason to use it.

Despite the misery he's just stepped into, Ichigo can't help but smile. He kicks a pebble and watches it skitter across the asphalt, then turns to her with wide eyes. "This is awesome."

He's been going a bit mad cooped up inside for so long, so anything seems like a better alternative for the moment.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"They used to build all kinds of things here," Ellen says, nodding across the parking lot to a mostly-collapsed building in the distance. "I think that was a paint factory. There's a place that made toy horses on the other side. Most of the rest is just tumble-down concrete by now, but sometimes you find places that're still partly standing..." She smiles a little. "There are worse places to be, though. You can handle a place like this, as long as you stay alert."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

He nods slowly, casting a glance around. "Alright, I think I can handle that for now." He doesn't have any armor or, and he's not one for guns, so he'll have to be careful not to get into a scuffle with anything that can hit him from afar. "Lead the way and I'll follow."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right. Southwards it is."

There's still pieces of road here and there that might be recognizable, or even useful. They're out in the big wide open, though; Ellen stays to the side of the roads or off them entirely whenever possible. "I know this isn't the easiest way," she admits, "but I caught sight of a few raiders earlier, and I'd rather not give them a target. Some of them are just off their rockers enough to take potshots at people in armor their bullets can't dent."

She glances up at the wreckage to the west. Two figures that had been peering out from the shadow of a second story to an otherwise long-gone building hurriedly duck out of sight.

"You already know what the mutants look like. There's other creatures here to be careful of. And people, too. Unless they're traders, or Brotherhood or Brotherhood Outcasts, it's probably best to assume they're hostile. The traders usually have pack cattle and the Brotherhood wears armor like mine. Same goes for the Outcasts, but theirs is black and red instead of grey."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

Ichigo is careful to follow her as precisely as he can (for all he knows he should be stepping where she steps, but he's not that good) while he listens to her speak. He says little himself as they trudge across the open wasteland, trying to focus on the world around him. He's accustomed to fighting spirits and ghosts, and being one himself he can usually sense where they're coming from before they strike. No such luck here, be it with people or with bullets. He'll have to be extra careful not to be caught off guard.

Though his grin subsided long ago, Ichigo still feels a certain lightness of heart. Whatever he may be concerned about, whatever this world may be, he's still glad to be doing something with his time again.

After a few moments of silence, Ichigo says her name in a low voice, not caring that, for the moment, they seem to be mostly alone. "Ellen I know your world is weird, but so is mine, and I forgot to ask but...well, how much do you want me to dial down the weird stuff while I'm here?" He pauses, realizing how vague and unhelpful that sounds. "I know about the mutants and the two headed cows and the people-turning-into-trees, but does you world have anything you know of that you might call...I dunno, magic? Anything way out there like that? Because I'm not big on the stuff myself, but I can do a couple things that would be pretty hard to explain without using the word 'magic' a lot. If you want me to, I can not do those kinds of things while I'm here. I don't want to screw anything up around here or leave you with some uncomfortable questions to answer should anybody live to talk about it."

He's been to worlds a lot crazier than his own and worlds a lot tamer as well, and while hers is certainly weirder, he hates to think that anything he does while he's a guest in her world might make problems. For her or for anybody else, really.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Um." Ellen has to stop for a moment to think about that. "Well. I've never really heard about anyone here who could do magic, outside of the old comic books, anyway. There's a woman up in Oasis who claims to have visions of the future, but she sounds like she's making it up, mostly. It's okay, though. People here are kind of few and far between, so it's not like we're likely to run into anybody who knows me this far away from Megaton."

(Except people who know her by reputation, but she doesn't know that.)

"So you don't have to hold back. It's not likely to cause a problem. What sort of things can you do, anyway?"

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

"Um." Ichigo scratches his head for a minute, trying to figure out an easy way to explain being a Shinigami (and a Vaizard, sortof). "I guess the simple version is that I can hit really hard, move really fast, and I'm pretty tough to kill. Not a lot of flashy stuff, but I wouldn't call what I can do normal either. Oh, and I'm pretty good with my sword." He gestures over his shoulder at the blade on his back. "Basically if push comes to shove I can dish out a lot of hurt."

Realizing his explanation has gone on far longer than it should have, Ichigo adjusts his jacket awkwardly and looks out in the direction they're walking. He feels like a bit of a psycho talking about himself like that. He's never asked for any sort of power, and he's not so sure he's the guy for the job either, but he's never had much of a choice. The only choice he does have is picking his battles.

He turns to look at her again, feeling he needs to explain himself. It's not a feeling he likes, but he can't ignore all his emotions. "I wouldn't though. Hurt people, I mean. Not for any old reason. I try to keep that stuff out of my life unless I think it's a life-or-death kinda moment. I mean, fighting's something I'm good at, but it's not something I take lightly and I've never gotten used to using my powers on human beings. Usually I just deal with monsters."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods, not really looking at much of anything. Considering her track record- where she started from, what happened on her first day out- what's happened to so many people since- she's not sure she's got any ground to stand on when it comes to doing things to people. Eventually, though, she thinks of the walls of the Springvale school; and then she remembers Andale.

"It's all right, Ichigo," she says quietly. "I've met... very terrible people. Not that they had powers, but... well. I'll just say that I know what people who like doing awful things are like. You're not one of them. I'd've picked up on it by now if you were."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

Ichigo, uncomfortable as always with expressing gratitude or happiness, makes some non-committal sound in his throat when she's done. He's not the best at saying thank you, so he tries to avoid it as best he can. But he does it with a twinge of a smile, so he's not so successful. "So what's in this direction again? I can't remember if you told me." This place is so big and open and lifeless that he feels a bit lost already, even if they have been following the road the whole time.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"We're trying to find the Nuka-Cola bottling plant from before the War," Ellen says. "My explosive schematics all rely on Nuka-Cola Quantum, which is this pre-war soda that glowed in the dark. There are still glass bottles of it out there, so I figure the bottling plant probably had some vats that survived the War, too. If we can find the Nuka-Cola plant, I'll be able to come back from the Bar once I've assembled that horse, and take the soda to make into explosives."

It all makes sense to her, at least.

Oh, and there's something about the size of Dogmeat scurrying across the road up ahead. Dogmeat is prettier, though.

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

Anything is prettier than the creature scurrying across the road ahead of them. Ichigo makes a noise when he catches sight of it, something between a groan of disgust and just plain vomiting in his mouth. It's hard to tell which.

"Jesus, what is that thing?" Mutants aren't even as ugly as this thing. It's like a giant tumor with legs decided to start running around and growing sporadic hairs.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Mole rat," says Ellen. "They're prone to digging and they can chew through just about- oh, for-"

That would be her exasperation at Dogmeat running off to charge at the creature- which takes one look at him and charges right back.

"He should be able to kill it," Ellen says as the hideous battle ensues. "Keep an eye out, though. They usually travel in groups of two or three."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

"How mean are these things?" He asks, watching as the two animals tear at each other. "They're not too big, but this guy looks pretty vicious. I'd hate to see what a pack of them look like." Ichigo's never seen Dogmeat being anything but a loyal companion, so watching him fight this hideous little creature is a bit disturbing for him. Still, it's not like he hasn't seen worse than two animals killing each other.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Mean enough to kill somebody unprepared if they worked in a group," Ellen says. "Not that I've seen it happen, but people in Megaton tell me it happens a lot to people who get careless, or too high on chems to defend themselves. It's the teeth." She indicates something about as long as her forefinger. "They're not fangs, but they're tough enough to bite through almost anything."

There's an unpleasant gurgling noise and the rat thing sags abruptly. Dogmeat worries at the corpse a little more before looking up, muzzle bloodied and tail wagging. "Go on and eat if you want," Ellen tells the dog. "I'm not hungry."

As Dogmeat goes about supplementing his lunch, Ellen adds, "Mole rat meat doesn't sit very well in the stomach. I mean, it's not going to make you sick, but it's not good either. I've got other supplies anyway."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

"And not to be rude or anything, but I think I'd rather starve before I eat that thing." Ichigo hasn't had to do much time 'roughing it' in the wild, so his idea of food rarely involves a campfire or anything he had to kill himself. Maybe time will change his mind, but then again maybe not.

"So things like that are an everyday thing for you then? The norm out here?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It's okay. I don't blame you. Besides, I've got some other supplies in my pack if we're still here when you get hungry."

She nods, glancing off into the distance. "Pretty much. You should see the yao guai sometime- they're bears. Big, mutant bears, faster than any human I've ever seen. Quiet, too. You don't realize they're on top of you until the dog starts barking or the armor starts yelling. They don't usually come into areas that have buildings, though."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

He's glad he ate before-hand, supplies or not. He can't imagine food in this world being particularly tasty, whatever it may have been like before everything went to hell.

"So what do you expect we'll run into where we're going? Those big mutant things? Some thugs?"

Giant Godzilla-like monsters?

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Maybe," says Ellen. "Maybe mirelurks. They're big, mutant crab monsters- taller than me, broader than a man's armspan at the shoulder, armored as anything. Only soft spot they've got is the face. They're not bright, they're just dangerous, and they seem to wind up living just about anywhere that there's standing water. So they might be there. Of course, the last factory I was in had mutants, but there was a woman there experimenting on them..."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

Ichigo finds himself getting more and more alert with every new threat he learns of in this place, so maybe it's good preparation that she's worrying him so much with all these crazy beasts they might see.

"Experimenting on those big green guys? How? Why?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen taps at the back of her head with one finger. "Control devices," she says. "Chips that let her control their behavior somehow. And that she could overload and detonate remotely if she thought her work would be compromised- she'd set them to explode the mutants' heads after they were killed so that nobody could get at the chips."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

Ichigo gives her a (by now familiar) look of disbelief, then shakes his head. "Your world may be messed up Ellen, but it sounds like the people are no picnic either. I mean...jesus, man, what the fuck? What kind of person does shit like that?" It's hard for him to see that maybe people do such things because of the world around them. Or maybe they were always a little crazy. "What did you do to her?"

For some reason he assumes that Ellen and this woman reached some sort of conclusion. Probably not a nice one.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I've seen worse," Ellen says soberly. "Long after the fact. I found a Vault that failed two hundred years ago because they had orders to test audio mind control on the people who lived there, and enough of them went crazy that they murdered all the others with their bare hands... and there was Andale, but that wasn't even an experiment."

As far as the question goes?

"She got the best burial I could manage."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

He's seen monsters, he's seen murderers, he's dealt with men who could only be called abominations. And yet he still feels sick to think about the kind of things she's describing.

He's not sure he'll ever get used to the sick things some people will do in the name of...well, anything really.

"So how far is this place? At the pace we're going, I mean? An hour, a day?"

He makes a note to ask about Andale later. He worries he should also not eat before he does so.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen's universe means always having to say you're sorry. Because yeah. It's like that.

At any rate, grateful for the new subject, Ellen pokes at the gauntlet on her left forearm and calls up a map. "Probably an hour or so," she says. "Maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more. Sierra wasn't very clear on exactly where the factory was- she's the woman who gave me the map marker in the first place, and she wasn't quite right in the head. I mean, even compared to the other crazy I've seen. But we're in the right general area."

[kurosakiboy.livejournal.com]

Ichigo looks around them at the depressing scenery that they will, apparently, be trudging through for an hour. Being someplace new is fun. Walking through the big flat empty part of it for an hour is not. Still, he's not going to complain. She was nice enough to help him, the least he can do is not bitch about the trip. He breaths in again, feels that same pleasant feeling, and then turns to her.

"Will there be any kind of sign or something to let us know it's the one? Are you sure it's still standing?" A lot of buildings look like they've caved in on themselves over the years. If it's just another ruin they could accidentally walk past it.