(Untitled)

[findthegeck]

[Gecko: Sativa has a chat about her ancestor.

Vault City: Sativa helps out with a friend's family issues and finally gets her citizenship. And no one had to die.

Allowed to enter the Vault, she gets access to information she needs. Possibly Too Much Information.]Sativa is out by the lakeside in her pristine new complimentary Vault suit, her skin

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

She's probably better at even the accidental skipping than Ellen is. Ellen was just heading to the lake after a hard day of dealing with scientists at home and dealing with Brahmin here, herself. She hadn't meant to run across anyone, she just wanted the lake for somewhere to wash the worst of the herding sequelae off Dogmeat. So-

"Whoops. Hi, Sativa." There's a pause. "Are you okay? You look a little..." She wiggles one hand in midair.

[findthegeck]

"Uh? Oh, hi." She holds her arm out mid-throw and stops just there as Ellen arrives. "I'm okay, I guess I am a little..." She mimics the wiggle. "Just... stuff on my mind."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "Anything I can help with?" she says. "Dogmeat, you can swim if you want."

It's going to take Dogmeat a while to figure that one out. Swimming isn't a good thing at home. Ellen yelled at him the last time he tried.

[findthegeck]

Sativa watches Dogmeat with a smile and shakes her head. "I don't think so, I think it's mostly just from being inside staring at a terminal for too long." She read a lot, she can't say she actually learned much.

"One thing, though. I met a couple of people who met my grandfather once. Well, one met him. The other just saw him briefly."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh? Where did you find a terminal- did you finally get into Vault City, or was this somewhere else?"

Dogmeat sniffs at the lake water hesitantly. It doesn't smell like the water back home, which tends to make him sneeze. Maybe it's okay to put a paw in?

"You did? Really?" Ellen looks up at that. "They must be very old by now."

[findthegeck]

"I got into the Vault itself," Sativa confirms. "With the power plant fixed I got citizenship and full access to the archives." She holds up her Pip-Boy. "Which means I've got the location of another Vault right here."

She nods. "They're ghouls, so they're getting on a bit. 'But doing great for being dead!'" She does a so-so impression of Harold, and shrugs. "Well, he seemed to think it was funny. A real interesting guy, right there."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Congratulations," Ellen says. "That should make things a lot easier for you. I hope this one turns out to have your GECK."

She tilts her head curiously at the comment. "Some of the ghouls I know have weird senses of humor," she admits. "There's one in Underworld who promises to give you a full refund if the armor she sells fails to protect your life. What's with the dead one, though?"

[findthegeck]

"It's pretty far away, but I think I'm getting closer. It's marked as Vault 15, and that one's been mentioned somewhere in the old journals. It should actually be pretty close to Vault 13."

Sativa shrugs. "I'm not really sure: like you said, weird sense of humor. But he did look like he'd been buried and dug up - greenish skin, practically hanging off the bones." She stares distantly in recollection. "I haven't mentioned the weirdest thing about him, though. Growing out of his head, clear as day..." She trails off, holding her hand about a foot away from her head.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen starts blinking at that- she remembers Weasel mentioning that number- and keeps right on blinking through to the end. "Growing out of-"

Okay, there's weird and then there's weird, and there's some things that are just too weird to happen more than once.

"Did he have a horn?" Ellen finally says. "Because if it was something else growing out of his head instead..."

[findthegeck]

"A tree," she finishes. "A small one, just sprouting out, with little branches, even a few leaves. He seemed to be okay with it - he even named the thing."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Bob," says Ellen. "Or Herbert."

There is NO WAY this could happen twice. Even their world isn't THAT crazy- is it?

[findthegeck]

"Yeah," Sativa says absently. "He said it was Herbert at first, but he was just joking."

...

Wait, what.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I've met him," says Ellen. "Harold, isn't it? I've met him. The poor fellow's still alive..."

[findthegeck]

"That's right!" she exclaims. "He made it all the way to the other side of the country? Wow."

By now having seen a map of the United States, she thinks about the old ghoul traveling the entire width of it. "He didn't strike me as a very fast walker..."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"He's... not walking any more," says Ellen slowly. "The tree won. It put down roots and he's stuck in one place- the only green place in the entire Capital Wasteland."

[findthegeck]

Gears turned. Old conversations presented themselves for review, and then it clicked. "Wait, your tree guy? That's Harold?" It made sense, of course. Plants grow, and in time, who could say how much Bob would grow?

Well, now she knows. She felt even sorrier for the guy than she did before.

"He seemed the helpful sort when I met him," she muses turning the stone she's still holding over and over in her hand. "Just doing what he can to make sure Gecko didn't turn into a giant hole in the ground. I guess he's still helping people, in a way."