Franklin Girls
Mar. 7th, 2015 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aaaaaaaagh_skyWell, they'd crossed half of Philly and tried every ground-level door and empty doorway, and not a one had led to Milliways. Ellen couldn't really say she was surprised. The door never seemed to work when she was near other people. But she had to try, for Conklin's sake. “Painless?” she called.
“Yes, ma'am?”
“How much farther do we have to go?”
“Almost there,” said the dentist. The string of teeth around his neck rattled as he pointed down a side alley. “Doctor D operates out of an old museum down there. There's usually one or two Franklin Girls on the street this time of day.”
“Good. Conklin's looking worse.” She glanced over at the Knight's pale, clammy face. D0G was doing his best to keep the man stable, but the droid had been designed for guard duty and combat, not medical transport. “Unit 83?”
“Two human targets within fifty yard scan radius.”
“Are they armed?”
“Minimally. Probability of ice gang membership extremely low.”
“Probably Franklin Girls, then,” said Painless. “You might want to pull back that robot.”
“Unit 83, stay on point, but maintain a distance from Knight Conklin of three yards or less,” Ellen said. To Painless she noted, “I'm not taking chances. He stays where anybody who might get the wrong idea can see him.”
“If you say so,” muttered Painless, “but I'm pretty sure the only idea anyone's going to get looking at this bunch is that there's a new team in town.”
Ellen waved him off and pushed ahead of the robots, Kang coming up close behind her. The building ahead had been struck by the War as much as any other, but scaffolding surrounded the worst of the fallen masonry, and a few places looked as if it had been repaired with concrete or bricks taken from other ruins. Someone had even gone to the trouble of carving new columns to match the original ones that still stood around the entrance. And in between those columns-
Huh.
Well.
Ellen had seen Wasteland prostitutes plenty of times. There was Nova, in Megaton, and several in Rivet City. There'd been Dukov's 'party girls', who probably counted even if they only ever had one... ah... client. Most of them didn't look too different from anyone else. Oh, Nova wore her leather jacket extra tight in some places and wide open in others, and that one fellow in Rivet City had gone out of his way to bulk up part of his Brahmin-skin trousers, but for the most part they dressed just like anyone else, if maybe a little better.
These women were not like that.
These women wore Dresses. They deserved the capital D; there was enough fabric in those voluminous skirts to make up two or three everyday dresses each, and they rustled as they moved. A mole rat could have hidden under one of them and Ellen would never have known it was there. Their top parts were fitted closer, but every conceivable edge had some form of floppy, ruffled fabric sewn on for emphasis. One woman wore what looked like some kind of sack over most of her hair, cinched in close to her head with a strip of red leather; the sack also had ruffly fabric trimming around the edges. The other must have been wearing a wig, because Ellen could not possibly believe real hair could be pulled up so high or frizzed up with that many curls on the side- or that anyone with skin that dark could have hair that color, at least not without a lot of chemical treatment.
“... so that's a Franklin Girl, huh,” muttered Kang. Ellen had forgotten he was there. “Well, this is gonna be interesting.”
“How do they do anything dressed like that?” she blurted.
“You'd be surprised,” said Painless, who had come up behind her. “Trust me, they've had practice- hello, ladies!”
The dark one smiled. “Why, hello there, Painless!” she all but cooed back. “Good to see you again! I thought you were leaving town.”
“I was, but these fine people-” He gestured to Ellen and her companions. “-had enough caps to persuade me not to give up on this city entirely just yet.”
“Really, now.” The woman with the sack on her head leaned forward a bit, her skirts (she had to have been wearing at least two) rustling. “And just who do we have the pleasure of thanking for your continued company?”
“Madame Keturah, Madame Prudence,” said Painless, “allow me to present to you Paladin 101 of the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel, and her companions Knight Kang, Scribe Cancio, Knight Conklin, uh-”
“Just Voodoo.”
“Right. Voodoo, um-”
“Ma'am,” Ellen interrupted, “as much I'd normally let Painless here keep talking, we've kind of got a medical emergency, and he says you're equipped to handle that kind of thing.”
“I was gonna say,” said the dark woman, all business, “there's a few too many of you for our regular service. What've you got?”
“Head injury.” Ellen gestured to D0G to step forward. “Knight Conklin here was thrown into a wall hard enough to strike the inside of his own helmet.”
“Hmmf. Let me see-” The dark woman gathered up her skirts in one hand and swished down the steps of the building to where D0G stood. “I don't see bleeding. Sir Knight, can you hear me? My name's Keturah.”
Ellen glanced over at Painless, then back to Keturah. “He was semi-responsive at best after the injury,” she said. “We did our best to immobilize him.”
“Good.” Keturah was too busy gently pulling first one eyelid, then the other, down. “Because I don't like the look of these pupils at all. Steady breathing, at least. Has he vomited?-- Prudence, I've got incomprehensible sounds here and some pain response. Go get Elizabeth and Theodosia and a spine board.”
That... well, that was better than Ellen had been expecting. “We can carry the spine board-”
“I'd assumed as much. I want the other girls to see this. They're only partly trained and any educational opportunity's a good one,” said Keturah. “We should be able to help him, but it's going to cost you.”
“I'd assumed as much,” Ellen said. “What kind of price are we talking about?”
“I don't set the prices. Talk to Doctor D once we've got your man inside.”
Ellen gestured to the others to do what the woman said; as Voodoo came up beside her she muttered, “See if you can find a door while I follow up with these people.”
It would have to do. At least, for now.
“Yes, ma'am?”
“How much farther do we have to go?”
“Almost there,” said the dentist. The string of teeth around his neck rattled as he pointed down a side alley. “Doctor D operates out of an old museum down there. There's usually one or two Franklin Girls on the street this time of day.”
“Good. Conklin's looking worse.” She glanced over at the Knight's pale, clammy face. D0G was doing his best to keep the man stable, but the droid had been designed for guard duty and combat, not medical transport. “Unit 83?”
“Two human targets within fifty yard scan radius.”
“Are they armed?”
“Minimally. Probability of ice gang membership extremely low.”
“Probably Franklin Girls, then,” said Painless. “You might want to pull back that robot.”
“Unit 83, stay on point, but maintain a distance from Knight Conklin of three yards or less,” Ellen said. To Painless she noted, “I'm not taking chances. He stays where anybody who might get the wrong idea can see him.”
“If you say so,” muttered Painless, “but I'm pretty sure the only idea anyone's going to get looking at this bunch is that there's a new team in town.”
Ellen waved him off and pushed ahead of the robots, Kang coming up close behind her. The building ahead had been struck by the War as much as any other, but scaffolding surrounded the worst of the fallen masonry, and a few places looked as if it had been repaired with concrete or bricks taken from other ruins. Someone had even gone to the trouble of carving new columns to match the original ones that still stood around the entrance. And in between those columns-
Huh.
Well.
Ellen had seen Wasteland prostitutes plenty of times. There was Nova, in Megaton, and several in Rivet City. There'd been Dukov's 'party girls', who probably counted even if they only ever had one... ah... client. Most of them didn't look too different from anyone else. Oh, Nova wore her leather jacket extra tight in some places and wide open in others, and that one fellow in Rivet City had gone out of his way to bulk up part of his Brahmin-skin trousers, but for the most part they dressed just like anyone else, if maybe a little better.
These women were not like that.
These women wore Dresses. They deserved the capital D; there was enough fabric in those voluminous skirts to make up two or three everyday dresses each, and they rustled as they moved. A mole rat could have hidden under one of them and Ellen would never have known it was there. Their top parts were fitted closer, but every conceivable edge had some form of floppy, ruffled fabric sewn on for emphasis. One woman wore what looked like some kind of sack over most of her hair, cinched in close to her head with a strip of red leather; the sack also had ruffly fabric trimming around the edges. The other must have been wearing a wig, because Ellen could not possibly believe real hair could be pulled up so high or frizzed up with that many curls on the side- or that anyone with skin that dark could have hair that color, at least not without a lot of chemical treatment.
“... so that's a Franklin Girl, huh,” muttered Kang. Ellen had forgotten he was there. “Well, this is gonna be interesting.”
“How do they do anything dressed like that?” she blurted.
“You'd be surprised,” said Painless, who had come up behind her. “Trust me, they've had practice- hello, ladies!”
The dark one smiled. “Why, hello there, Painless!” she all but cooed back. “Good to see you again! I thought you were leaving town.”
“I was, but these fine people-” He gestured to Ellen and her companions. “-had enough caps to persuade me not to give up on this city entirely just yet.”
“Really, now.” The woman with the sack on her head leaned forward a bit, her skirts (she had to have been wearing at least two) rustling. “And just who do we have the pleasure of thanking for your continued company?”
“Madame Keturah, Madame Prudence,” said Painless, “allow me to present to you Paladin 101 of the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel, and her companions Knight Kang, Scribe Cancio, Knight Conklin, uh-”
“Just Voodoo.”
“Right. Voodoo, um-”
“Ma'am,” Ellen interrupted, “as much I'd normally let Painless here keep talking, we've kind of got a medical emergency, and he says you're equipped to handle that kind of thing.”
“I was gonna say,” said the dark woman, all business, “there's a few too many of you for our regular service. What've you got?”
“Head injury.” Ellen gestured to D0G to step forward. “Knight Conklin here was thrown into a wall hard enough to strike the inside of his own helmet.”
“Hmmf. Let me see-” The dark woman gathered up her skirts in one hand and swished down the steps of the building to where D0G stood. “I don't see bleeding. Sir Knight, can you hear me? My name's Keturah.”
Ellen glanced over at Painless, then back to Keturah. “He was semi-responsive at best after the injury,” she said. “We did our best to immobilize him.”
“Good.” Keturah was too busy gently pulling first one eyelid, then the other, down. “Because I don't like the look of these pupils at all. Steady breathing, at least. Has he vomited?-- Prudence, I've got incomprehensible sounds here and some pain response. Go get Elizabeth and Theodosia and a spine board.”
That... well, that was better than Ellen had been expecting. “We can carry the spine board-”
“I'd assumed as much. I want the other girls to see this. They're only partly trained and any educational opportunity's a good one,” said Keturah. “We should be able to help him, but it's going to cost you.”
“I'd assumed as much,” Ellen said. “What kind of price are we talking about?”
“I don't set the prices. Talk to Doctor D once we've got your man inside.”
Ellen gestured to the others to do what the woman said; as Voodoo came up beside her she muttered, “See if you can find a door while I follow up with these people.”
It would have to do. At least, for now.