(Untitled)

[themanclion]

He sweeps in tonight like a man on a mission, car keys in his hand, obviously en route to kick some scumbag's head in. So, y'know. Not all that happy about being sidetracked.

Still! Always time for a quick snifter.

'Double Sc....oh, you are jokin' me.'

A napkin informs him that no, actually, she is not. He sighs, and runs his hand over his forehead.

'

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, hey," says Ellen as she comes up to the Bar. "I haven't seen you in a while. Hi, Gene. How've you been?"

Hair's longer, though not by much. Scars are still about the same.

[themanclion]

'Alrigh', luv?'

He Leans against the back of the bar, and lights a fag.

'Got no complaints. Drink?'

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I could use one," Ellen says. "Just beer, though. It's been a decent day for once."

[themanclion]

The nearest fridge gets yanked open; he grabs the nearest bottle, flips the top off and slides it over.

'Here? Or out,' a head-jerk towards the door, 'there?'

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Out there," Ellen says. "I've been stationed in my hometown for once- the Brotherhood of Steel is looking to make deals with the Wasteland communities for supplies, and the easiest way to get on their good side is to station soldiers with them to make sure they get both water and safety. So I've been assigned to Megaton, which is better than getting sent into the ruins to hunt mutants."

[themanclion]

He runs a hand along his jaw, trying to remember where she was last time they spoke.

'You're a soldier, now?'

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Have been for some time, actually," Ellen says. "Ever since I got over my radiation sickness- after we took back Dad's purifier and drove the Enclave out."

[themanclion]

He raises his eyebrows. She was sick?

'Why?'

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, I guess I haven't seen you since then," Ellen says. "Or if I have I haven't mentioned it- well, anyway, I've told you about the Enclave, I think? The people who tried to claim they were the old government, and who took over Dad's water purification project, and wanted to wipe out anybody mutated so that they'd have room for their own people instead?"

There's no sense ploughing on with the story if he hasn't heard about them.

[themanclion]

'Yeah, I remember them.'

Then he frowns.

'No, 'ang on.

...yeah, OK. Yeah, you tol' me about them.'

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "Well," she says, "after they took the purifier, and Dad died, we went through a lot of trouble to get it back from them before they could use it to poison anybody they thought was mutated. We beat them, but the purifier was in a bad way, and I wound up having to go into its main control room and restart it to keep it from exploding. And the control room was really irradiated, so I spent several weeks at home and then here being treated for it."

[themanclion]

'Ohhh, right. Yeah, last time I saw you I reckon you were on the way out t'get to it.'

It rings a bell, anyway.

'You're OK, though? No lasting damage?'

She looks OK, but you never can tell with radiation.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"None that I know of," Ellen says. "The treatments were pretty thorough. And miserable."

And she never liked being confined to a sickbed anyway.

"I passed the physical fitness tests for the Brotherhood, too- I had help from people here with getting ready for that- so that helps."

[themanclion]

'More effective than hidin' under the table, I'll bet.'

Anyone who lived through the sixties will never forget that instruction.

'Why's it good in this Brotherhood, then?'

Sounds suspiciously like one of those freaky-deaky secret organisations to him, and he hates them. But she's said good things about them in the past, he recalls.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I've found a lot of charred bones underneath tables and desks," Ellen agrees.

She's not going to mention her copy of Duck And Cover!: Your Guide To Nuclear Emergencies. She's just not.

"The Brotherhood's a group of soldiers whose job is to recover old technology from before the War and get it working again, and keep it out of the wrong hands," she says. "The ones who've come to the Capital Wasteland consider it their duty to protect the people of the Wasteland as well. You've met one. Remember when you came to help fight the really gigantic mutant? Star Paladin Cross, the woman in the power armor? She's their third highest ranking soldier in the Wasteland."

[themanclion]

So, so wise.

'The hard one? Yeah, I remember her.'

He found her quite attractive, as it goes. Nice attitude.

'They sound alrigh'. But you watch yourself, luv. Every organisation's got a few bad apples poisonin' it. Speakin' of mutants, didn' you say you'd found a tame one?'