01 - Public / Video

[domesheriff]

[for a moment, a woman's face is simply staring out at the broadcast, consideringly, as though not sure it's started yet. she's in her early twenties, Hispanic, her dark hair braided, and dressed in the uniform of resort security]

[realizing from the display on the screen that the broadcast must have started, she says:] Hello. [the word is a bit uncertain. she swallows, trying to mask her nerves, and continues more calmly:] I'm Linda Esquivel. I'm from Chester's Mill, Maine. [there's a beat of hesitation, as she wonders if she should give more information than that, but she ultimately decides to leave the description as it is] I just got here a couple days ago, and I've joined the security patrol. I was a sheriff's deputy back home. [and sheriff, but she doesn't think two days of that job due to the disaster that happened really counts, so she leaves her credentials at that]

I thought you should know who I am in case you see me around. And, uh, I'd like to start meeting people, too--and learn a little more about this place. I've never seen anything like it before. [another pause as she debates how to end an open message like this. finally, she goes with:] I'm here if you'd like to talk.

Comments

[domesheriff]

[she easily matches pace with him. at that comment, she gives a nod] Yeah. Small town, rural area. We dealt with animals sometimes, but Animal Control did more of that work. I guess I'm more used to bar brawls, poachers, and speeders out in the country. But I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

[she gives him a curious glance. his appearance makes her wonder if he's ex-military, but she doesn't want to assume] What about you? What sort of job did you come from?

[thumbsdown]

NCR, 1st Recon. Sniper battalion. Left a while ago, though.

[He taps the insignia on his beret.]

This is the beret I wore. Didn't see any point in getting a new one.

[He wouldn't have wanted to swap it out even if Kay had asked him to. Luckily, Kay saw no point in it either.]

[domesheriff]

[she gives an impressed whistle] Sniper, huh? Wow. I take it this kind of work is less exciting than what you're used to, huh?

[thumbsdown]

Guess it is. Not so different to what I was doing back home, though. Shooting less people here, but I'm fine with that. Used to giant bugs, the spiders aren't so different. The geckos in the desert here came from my world, too. Not sure how.

[So although this is a vacation compared to living back home, there are a few similarities between the worlds.]

[domesheriff]

[Linda would argue that shooting animals is very different from shooting people, but she doesn't see any point in contradicting Boone]

Animals came here from your world? [she's surprised to hear that. but since Boone has already said he doesn't know how it happened, she doesn't ask] I guess this place is just full of surprises... [her tone is dry. the more she hears about the environment here, the most hostile it sounds]

[thumbsdown]

[He was referring more to the fact that he has to shoot giant mutated animals back home, too. He nods.]

We've got worse things back home than geckos. Just lucky it was them that showed up, and not deathclaws or something. You can run from a gecko. Can't run from a deathclaw.

[He glances over at her.]

What's it like for you back home? Nothing like the animals here?

[domesheriff]

Deathclaws? [just from the name, she can imagine how dangerous those might be]

[she shakes her head at the question] I mean, we've got spiders, but they're small. We deal more with bears and moose. Wolves sometimes, too. But nothing like what you're describing.

[thumbsdown]

Yeah. Deathclaws are... well, they're like lizards, but they stand on their back legs and they're about ten foot tall. Got huge claws and teeth. Can take a lot to kill them, especially the alpha males and the mothers. Better off taking them out from a distance if you can.

[He frowns a little. He knows what a bear is, and he knows what a wolf is, but...]

What's a moose?

[domesheriff]

[she gives a low whistle] Damn. Yeah, I think we're lucky those haven't followed you.

[but at his question, she looks slightly taken aback. it's weird to think there's a world out there that doesn't have moose] Uh, well, if you have deer, they're a little like that--antlers and all. Except much bigger and...stockier. Maybe about 6 feet tall? They're usually pretty calm, but you don't want to scare one or make it angry. Around where I'm from, car crashes involving moose are...bad.

[thumbsdown]

Oh. Huh.

[He's still confused because he doesn't know what a deer is either, but he doesn't want to keep asking what things are.]

Don't have working cars where I'm from. Lot of them still on the roads, all burned out. Never saw a moving car until I came here.

[He doesn't really like riding in them. He doesn't trust the roads. He prefers to walk.]

[domesheriff]

[she frowns] What do you mean? [for a second, she can't imagine why running cars would be a thing of the past--although then it occurs to her that in the future maybe something like that could happen, so she adds:] What do you have instead?

[not that having something else would explain why there are abandoned cars around that haven't been removed, but it's the best idea she can think of without more information from Boone]

[thumbsdown]

We walk. Got stuff like vertibirds, and I saw a plane fly once. Never been inside either of those, though.

[She's not the first person to express confusion over the lack of cars. He's not surprised at this point.]

About two hundred years ago, every country with nuclear weapons launched them. Whole world changed. Guessing what the missiles didn't wipe out, the radiation did. Any cars that were on the roads when the bombs fell, they're still there.

[domesheriff]

[Linda's eyes widen] ...what!? [her expression is one of absolute horror] But...people survived? How?

[in addition to the part of her that's horrified at what this must have done to Boone's world, there's also a part of her that's thinking about the missile now, wondering, if Boone's world survived a nuclear war, if maybe there's a chance of someone in Chester's Mill making it through the explosion]

[thumbsdown]

Vaults saved some people. Underground shelters. Guess other people just got lucky. I dunno. Know a guy who was around before the war, but I never really asked him about it.

[He tends to forget that knowing someone over two hundred years old isn't something that happens in other worlds.]

[domesheriff]

That's... [but she shakes her head, realizing she really doesn't have any words for what a nuclear war would be like] I can't imagine that.

[she picks up on that oddity right away, though] Before...the war 200 years ago?

[thumbsdown]

Yeah. He's a ghoul. Ghouls are people who got exposed to too much radiation but didn't die. Hair falls out, skin and noses rot off, but they end up living a lot longer than normal people and radiation heals them instead. Some ghouls go feral, forget who they are and attack anything. Means the ghouls who are still sane don't always get treated all that well.

[domesheriff]

[she shudders at that description] That's...too bad. [after a pause, she adds:] Is he nice?

[the question is really a sign of her brain struggling to comprehend a human being ending up on such a fine line with being a creature. it's a bit much for her]

[thumbsdown]

Sarcastic a lot of the time, but yeah. He's a good guy. He's a mechanic, helps us fix things up if we need to. Good to have around if you need backup, too.

[He looks over at her, noting how the description affected her. It's strange to think of a world where ghouls don't exist.]

Had a ghoul here before. Name was Charon. Worked patrol, like us. He left, though.

[domesheriff]

[she nods, a little relieved to hear that, though she's not sure she could explain why] He sounds like a good guy.

He went home, you mean? [she wonders what it would have been like to meet someone like that. admittedly, she knows it would have at least taken some getting used to]

[thumbsdown]

Yeah. Not sure why he left. He didn't talk much. Guess after two hundred years, you run outta things to say.

[He gets the feeling Charon was always a quiet guy, though. Some people just are. Boone knows he's one of them.]

[domesheriff]

Guess so. [considering she never met him nor has ever met anyone like him, she's not sure what to say. in any case, they're nearing a building that definitely looks like a restaurant, and Linda gestures in that direction] Is that where we're headed?

[thumbsdown]

Yeah. Pretty quiet place, but the food is good. Not too expensive either.

[He likes it mostly because there's never usually many people inside. He's never seen the place full. He heads inside and picks out a table, not bothering to pick up his own menu since he usually gets the same thing.]

So. Think you'll be sticking around here for a while?

[domesheriff]

[she follows him to the table, but she grabs a menu on the way, looking it over curiously. she's not sure what a lot of the food is, so mainly she's scanning for familiar dishes, and thankfully she isn't disappointed]

[she glances up at the question, though] Ah--yeah. [for a second, deep sadness flits across her features, but she quickly looks down at her menu again] Looks like I will be.

[trying to shift the conversation off of her, she adds:] Have you been here long?

[thumbsdown]

[Boone sees the look on her face when she answers his question, but he isn't the type to pry. It's none of his business, and if Linda wanted to talk about it she would.]

About... seven months now. Never planned on staying so long. Guess this place turned out to be better than I thought.

[He still misses home, though.]

[domesheriff]

[maybe someday, when the disaster isn't so raw and she feels close enough to someone here, she'll talk about it. but right now, it's still much too soon, so she lets the conversation shift, grateful that Boone isn't pressing her]

Yeah? That's a good sign. [not sure whether the question might be too personal, she asks a little tentatively:] What made you come here?