Voodoo - Doctor's Visit

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Fawkes got Ellen the holotape recording from Miss Agatha, and a set of her written sheet music besides. Bahorel's, ah... philosophical... work came a little bit after that. They're really all that Ellen came to the Bar for this time around, so it's time to go back to the House of Franklin and give the good doctor his-

Well. They're all Ellen came to the Bar for. Ellen wasn't the only one who came through that door, though.

Time to find Voodoo and see what his situation is.

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"We can hope," Ellen says. "We can hope."

They're first back to the rendezvous point. It won't be long before Kang, Jerald, and the others return; Ellen leans back against an ancient lamppost and rubs at her face with both hands.

"I was going to thank you for helping me with all of this, but given what happened at the Bar, that'd probably sound kind of hollow," she says quietly. "Still- thank you."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo sighs, hands in his pockets. "Yeah."

He rubs at one temple before looking at Ellen.

"Look, don't sweat it. It'll sort itself out one way or another. 'til then, let's focus on the shit we can fix."

He looks back just in time to see them coming down the street.

"Here they come."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen pushes herself away from the lamppost and draws herself up straight. It would probably look more impressive if she were in her power armor rather than her stealth suit, since at least the power armor adds some bulk, but what can you do. "Welcome back," she calls to the new arrivals. "Report."

"No luck, Paladin," says Kang, his voice muffled by his helmet. "Not as far as the doctor's request, anyway. Scribe Cancio did stumble across a couple of bottles of Days, though. Caps intact and everything."

Painless- who had been with the people from Voodoo's group, and the robots- whistles. "Not bad," he says. "All we managed to scare up was an old boxing magazine."

Ellen nods. "We found music," she says. "And an old treatise of some kind. I've already taken pictures of all the pages for transmission back to the Citadel. I think we should be set now as far as payment goes."

"Where did you- ow!" That was Josepha speaking, and Jerald absently elbowing her in the ribs. When the others turn and look at him he spreads both hands and gives the least convincing 'what? I'm innocent' look anyone's seen in a long time.

"... let's just get our stuff to the Doctor, all right?"

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo nods, stare fixed squarely on Jerald - and as the group moves to depart, he moves with them, lagging behind only slightly to clap the Scribe on the shoulder.

"Wasn't your place to do that to my people," he rasps, voice low and soft, but not without menace. "Try it again and you won't like what I do."

And then he walks on. His own expression of nonchalance is more practiced than Jerald's - whether it's more effective is subjective.

(It was, at worst, a love tap. Still, you've got to set the boundaries somewhere.)

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen rolls her eyes, but says nothing. She'll have plenty of opportunities to discuss this with the Scribe later.

(He's a good man, but Lord, does he have social skills worse than her own sometimes.)

Madame Theodosia, the red-headed Franklin Girl, is waiting at the House's front entrance. "That was quick," she says, arching one eyebrow. "I hope you aren't trying to put one over on us."

[boston_bruiser]

"We ain't. Got your payment right here."

Voodoo produces some sheet music, along with a volume titled Evadaisme.

"Some Bach, and some...treatise." He pauses, turning the tome over and briefly glancing through the pages.

"God, how much of a douche do you have to be to like this stuff- uh, anyway, we got that and a boxing mag and Scribe Cancino found your caps. Good enough?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Good enough and then some, I should think," says Theodosia as she turns a few of the treatise's pages. "All right. Come with me, and we'll see how the Doctor reacts. I don't think he was expecting quite this much from you."

[boston_bruiser]

"Cool," Voodoo says, following her in. "Does this mean he gets fixed quicker?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"He'll be the Doctor's priority, that's for sure," says Theodosia as she makes her way past the giant statue of Ben Franklin in the atrium. "Doctor D's a busy man at the best of times..."

Not all of the hallways leading out of the atrium are in habitable condition, but the worse-off ones have been cordoned off with canvas- or some kind of fabric, anyway- and scaffolding. One of the two really viable ones has been rather gaudily decorated- think along the lines of the Dresses the Girls are wearing. The other, rather smaller, looks like it probably had an AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY sign protecting it at some point in its history. Right now it just has a metal sheet upon which someone has painted 'The Doctor is In' in a style that looks almost as if the painter had seen work written with a quill-pen once. Theodosia sweeps up her skirts in one hand, steps past the sign, and calls out, "Oh, Doctor.... your clients are back, and they brought presents."

"Real presents, or the armor piercing kind?" comes Doctor D's muffled, wary voice.

"Real presents, Doctor. You're gonna like this..."

[boston_bruiser]

"Bach, philosophy, and boxing magazines. And caps, too."

To add effect, Voodoo waves the sheet music, making a rustling sound.

"So when can he be back to 100 percent?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Doctor D takes the bundle of papers from Theodosia and begins thumbing through them. He doesn't say anything, not at first, but his eyes get very wide very fast indeed. "I'm doing what I can to get him back on his feet as soon as possible, believe me," he says when he finally looks up. "He's a resilient man. I haven't got the kind of anti-inflammatory chems I'd like to be deploying about now, but I can promise you, he'll get the best treatment possible this side of the Divide."

[boston_bruiser]

"What's the Div- you know, never mind, just do your thing."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen's frowning, one hand halfway to her mouth. "Wait a minute," she says. "Wait-"

Dr. D looks up, his expression not dissimilar to that of a whitetail deer that's just spotted an oncoming Ford.

"Didn't you mention something about your native state before?" Ellen says. "Doctor, are you from the NCR?"

"..... who wants to know?"

[boston_bruiser]

A quick eyeroll from Voodoo. "Three guesses, first two don't count."

He spreads his arms in a really? expression. "Relax, old man. I don't know what's on your conscience, but whatever it is, we ain't gonna hurt you over it. Jeezus."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dr. D considers this for a minute before saying, "When I last saw Redding, NCR and the Brotherhood were at war. Can I assume that particular state of hostility doesn't apply here, given the circumstances?"

Ellen glances towards Kang, whose armored shoulders lift briefly in a shrug. She turns back to the doctor and says, "Unless Elder Lyons receives orders from the High Elder in California to the contrary, we have no interest in pursuing that war here. Although I'm curious, now, as to what brings a doctor all the way to Philadelphia from California."

D sighs and looks to Theodosia. "Theo, this may take awhile. Do you suppose you could take the more fidgety members of this delegation on a tour of the building or something? This office really isn't built for all these people and the robots, and I don't think I'm getting out of this without answering some questions."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo looks to his group. "Follow her," he says, nodding to Theodosia. "I'll fill you guys in on whatever you need to know later."

Amidst murmured acknowledgements and some shuffling about, they file out of the makeshift office until it's just Dr. D, Voodoo, and Ellen.

"You got my attention," Voodoo says, crossing his arms. "So long's you're not the rambling type."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dr. D nods, and from somewhere in the back of his office, manages to dredge up a pair of what might have been Eames chairs. "Sit if you like," he says. "I'll try not to ramble. It is something of a long story, I'll warn you of that. I suppose I should start by saying that Philadelphia was not where I intended to end up when I left California- actually I should start by saying I was never part of the war with the Brotherhood in the first place- and that, catchy as my local name may be, my name is actually Clifford Skridlow. I think you can see why I'm not using it."

[boston_bruiser]

The only Clifford Voodoo knows is the big red dog, but cross-universe children's literature references aside, he wouldn't want to be stuck with that name, either.

He takes the seat offered, letting his carbine hang by its sling between his legs as he leans forward, hands cupped around the receiver. "I can make some pretty good guesses," he says, "but go on."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Clifford nods. "My original intention was to travel with several of my fellow Followers to the Great Lakes region, preferably Illinois. We were hoping to make contact with whatever remained of civilization in the greater Chicago area- there had been rumors of other travelers going that way for years, and frankly it seemed less likely to end up with us dead, enslaved, or forcibly converted to weird tribal ideologies than trying to make inroads into Utah."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo glances to Ellen and shrugs. "Some things never change."

He turns back to Doctor D. "So what happened? You get lost?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Cli- oh, let's be nice and call him the name he wants to use- Dr. D sighs, but nods. "Something like that. There were about ten of us when the journey began, and we only lost poor Cruzatte somewhere in the wilds east of Caesar's lands. Stepped on some form of old world ordnance that hadn't lost its bite yet. We buried the parts we could find and wound up in an argument during the funerary rites over our course to Chicago, and the group split. It turns out that neither I nor Shields were actually particularly good at land navigation. I sincerely hope everyone else was."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo shrugs. "Seems straightforward enough. But what made you wanna leave in the first place? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you make it sound like Redding didn't see a lot of fighting."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"You're not Brotherhood, are you," says Dr. D flatly.

Ellen shakes her head. "He's a friend of mine and a close ally."

"Ah. Well. Redding is the site of a major vein of gold, which was the basis of NCR's currency for years. Note the use of the word 'was'. They've been running on paper money backed solely by the full faith and credit of the NCR government ever since the Brotherhood collapsed the gold mines."

[boston_bruiser]

"Do me a favor and spell it out-"

-crap, they don't have Barney in this universe.

"-well, okay. So you left because the economy went to shit?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I left because the Followers of the Apocalypse- unlike the Brotherhood of Steel- would prefer to pursue the path of restoring human knowledge and culture to as much of the world as possible, instead of concentrating old world technology and science in the hands of a few armored monastic isolationists," says Dr. D. "No offense, Paladin."

"None taken," Ellen murmurs mildly.

"And I left because, frankly, if NCR and the Brotherhood insisted on continuing their war, I didn't like our chances of continued operation in Redding- or anywhere else in the northern NCR. None of us did. Better to aim for somewhere out of harm's reach and start over."

"But not Utah," Ellen says."

"Are you kidding? Utah's riddled from ass to teakettle with more tribes than I have bones," says Dr. D. "Even the civilized ones are a nightmare to deal with if you're not a trained linguist. The New Canaanites and some of the trading companies deal with the less horrific ones, but they're armed to the teeth the whole time. I hate to say it, but it'd be a step up if Caesar and his Legion were to annex the area, frankly."