entranceway | 01 ☢ Video

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[A woman in a bright blue jumpsuit looks warily into the device as she balances it awkwardly against the stock of her gun, which she's still trying to hold in both hands while broadcasting at the same time. She glances quickly away again, muttering in frustration as she tries to get a device on her wrist to work, then jumping in panic as she hears a noise, uncertain whether ferals or super mutants or something even worse is about to descend on her.]

If anyone's receiving this message, please respond. I'm looking for my companion, Nick Valentine. He's a synth, but don't be alarmed, he's not going to hurt you.

[A pause while she peers tentatively round a corner to check that it's safe.]

And ... if anyone's seen a baby boy, please let me know.

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[well that last bit is...worrying. He's never seen an actual baby come around, but parents with missing kids? Par for the course]

Ma'am? You doing alright?

[Nora wasn't expecting to get any sort of answer, and does a double take when she sees him on the screen.]

I'm not sure. One moment I was at Fort Hagen, and then...

[Then she'd arrived here so suddenly she couldn't really explain how, but she only knows of one group who make a habit of mysteriously abducting people.]

This is the Institute, isn't it?

[It has to be: the whole place looks as though the war hasn't touched it at all.]

No, you're in Wonderland. [He gives her a small, reassuring smile.] I know, it sounds crazy, but there's other people around here with brochures and all kinds of information to back me up.

[His normal rough edges are smoothed down somewhat, because if there's one thing he knows, it's how to talk to distressed mothers. Unfortunately, it was a skill he had to develop when he was hunting- kids go missing because of monsters far more often than he ever wanted to think about.]

Basically, you're nowhere near where you think you are. Not even the same universe. And unfortunately, we don't see many babies here. I'm sorry.

Wonderland? [There's a cynicism beneath her apprehension, unsure if he's being sarcastic with a name like that, though he seems truthful and reassuring enough.]

Are you sure? He may not be a baby any more - I know that sounds crazy - but he might be ten years old now. His name's Shaun.

You won't find your child or your friend here.

[The man's voice is harried and disoriented, yet certain in his thoughts.]

You won't find anyone you know here, most likely. This place has taken you. Trapped you! Trapped us all!

You too? [She's not surprised to find she's not the only one, but it's not very reassuring either.] Who took us, did they say?

No. No, no no... I don't know who. If they had a face, or a body, perhaps, but no.

...How can they not have a face or a body? [Someone giving orders in the shadows, perhaps, but the way he says it makes her a little paranoid.]

If they don't truly exist! [He has every right to sound paranoid. Reality doesn't work here.]

That makes no sense. If they don't exist, how are we here?

[There is a long pause.]

... Because this world is mad! Mad! Mad!

[He makes an awful noise that sounds like a lunatic's cackling mixed with paranoid weeping.]

[She's beginning to think maybe it's not the world that's the mad one here.]

Have you been here long?

[He pulls up short on his initial response, if only for noticing the very distinctive blue of the suit she's wearing. There's no way to see from this angle if it happens to have a number on the back, but he'd bet every implant in his body that there is.

'Synth' almost clinches it, almost, but being careful is a long term habit.]

A synth, huh. [She's scared, it looks like, and he can't blame her.] Look, tell me if this sounds like a crazy question, but is that a Vault suit you're wearin'?

It sure is. [She sounds a little relieved, it's the first sign she's had that her own world exists outside of wherever this place is.] Vault 111. [She says the name with some distaste.]

111? Huh... don't know that one. Where's it at?

[He suspects somewhere north, somewhere he hasn't spent much time. If he looks, there might be some reference to it in his Pip-Boy, but he tended less towards seeking vaults out and more towards accidentally stumbling across them.]

And-- Tch. I'm Dan Palmer. Nice t' meet y'.

The Commonwealth. ...And I'm assuming I'm no longer there.

[She was still trying to get her head round that.]

Nora Endicott. I'd say the pleasure's all mine, but I'm not finding much to celebrate in being here.

Commonwealth - right. Explains that yer lookin' fer a synth.

[More than it would if she had come from anywhere else, that is. He's heard of them in other places, but never seen them walking around like he had up there.]

Yeah... it can be a helluva shock at first, but.. the water's clean. That's somethin' t' look forward to.

Really? That is something. It's amazing how much you miss clean water until you have to do without it.

[Aside from Nate and Shaun, the one thing she'd missed the most was being able to take a long, hot bath.]

Can't say I ever really had the experience a' missin' it.

[Makes sense that she missed it, if she came from a vault. As far as he could tell, the ones that weren't vandalised or raided all had clean water... more or less. Some kind of fancy pre-war filtration technology.]

Food's rad-free, too, an' no deathclaws. That last one is my favourite.

This is starting to sound like a paradise. What's the catch?

[Because there's always a catch.]

Heh...

[Of course there's a catch. There's always a catch. It might be an unnecessary lobotomy, or an exploding collar, or something less sinister and at the level of normal that Dan rarely experiences anymore, but there's always a catch.]

This place... likes t' mess with people's memories.

Like ... brainwashing? Or some sort of chems? [She's not sure how else memory loss would be achieved. It's a sinister enough catch that she has to ask:] Are you sure Vaulttec isn't running things here?

Wish it was. [And there's something he never thought he'd say, all things considered.]

I can deal wi' VaultTec. Heck, I can deal wi' chems an' brainwashing. That shit, I understand.

[And here is where he says the crazy thing and waits for the kind of look that any sensible person would give on hearing it.]

What happens here, 's more like... some kind'a magic. I know that sounds crazy. I promise I ain't.

You're kidding, right? [While she'd come from a world of difficult, frightening things, all of it made some sort of sense. Magic was just...] That's crazy.

I.. I know. I know. I swear I ain't makin' it up.

[He wishes he was.]

'M the last person who's gonna believe in all that hocus pocus shit, but... it's real. Here, it's real.

[She knows it's absurd, and yet she believes him. Until it's proven otherwise, at least.]

That one's going to take some adjusting to.

Tell me about it. [Muttered. It's hard work, he'll say that much.]

Got its perks - like the food that ain't halfway poison - but... yeah. Got its downsides, too.

Downsides bigger than the wasteland and the Institute?

[Nora seriously doubts that. But she's also feeling very unprepared for just how bad things might get.]

Ehhh... I s'pose it's gains an' losses, ain't it. Other downsides, jus' diff'rent ones.

[His expression twists into something thoughtful.]

At least, in the wasteland, y' know what it's gonna throw at you. An' the Institute..? Reckon their reach goes further than the Commonwealth, but I ain't about t' start gettin' messed up in synths an' shit like that. I got enough crazy crap in my life.

You'll have to tell me all about it. Perhaps over a beer.

[Or just water, if it really was as clean as he's saying it is. That was a novelty that wouldn't wear off quickly.]

Heh. Y'no, a beer sounds great right now. How 'bout I meet you at the bar?

[He can always use more people to drink beer with.]

Sounds perfect, assuming I can find it.

[This place is turning out to be something of a maze already.]

Well I ain't one t' leave a person wanderin' around. It's the fifth floor. I'll wait at the door for ya.

[Good enough, right?]

Your kid's missing?

[Jo exhales slowly. It doesn't matter that this is Wonderland, or that whoever this woman is probably left her friend and child behind wherever she came from. There's always a chance.]

I can't make any promises that he'll be here, but... I'll help you look.

That's right. My baby, Shaun, he was kidnapped. [She doesn't think he'll be here either, not unless her initial guess that she'd also finally been taken by the Institute was true, but she's desperate to hold out any sort of hope.] Thank you. I don't need promises, just -- just anything.

[Jo nods in reply. It's good that this woman can be realistic, but she's right not to give up hope. Better to look than to assume the worst.]

I'll see what I can do. Thankfully, Wonderland is only so big. I can enlist some others to help, too-- more eyes can only be a good thing. [A beat.] I'm Jo.

Nora. Pleased to meet you, Jo. [It was very reassuring to find people willing to help her right off the bat, rather than the raiders or Institute scientists she'd expected to run into.]

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Sorry I'm being so slow.

it's okay, I rely on backtags anyway

Yay!

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