Agent K | Network 001

[most_feared]

[Public | Audio]

[Agent K has been here for a little bit, and is settling in pretty quickly. Given all the other weird shit he's encountered in his career having to walk around with a foil lined fedora isn't too strange. That said, despite being used to every brand of pink, purple, and blue fuckery he's not too fond of the idea of some of his thoughts just popping into other people's heads.]

[So, today he's going to check in on the current stash of resort workers to see how people are doing so that he can be overly cautious.]

I figure as non-natives we might be a little more susceptible to this bug goin' around, so I was wondering if anyone brought in by the resort woke up with a hell of hangover and no drinking last night to go with it. I put some tylenol up at the front desk in security if anybody I'm workin' with is having any issues.

That is if you're not allergic, anyway.

Comments

audio

[thumbsdown]

So like a weaker Med-X.

[Only not addictive. He might have to look into it anyway. Nobody takes Med-X for a headache, but he's often wished for something like it when he's woken up with an awful hangover.]

Huh. Okay, I'll do that.

[Maybe if he lines his beret and stays inside where he can, he can completely avoid the bug. He really doesn't want people to hear his thoughts.

...He doesn't want to stay inside too much either, though. He's used to traveling, not sitting around doing nothing. Even when Elle left him back at the Lucky 38 he'd often leave and do his own thing.]

audio

[most_feared]

Not sure what Med-X is but I'd wager you were right.

[He's open to explanations, though. Any little bit he learns is something else he can be aware of.]

Better to be on the safe side. [There's a lot he's got in his head that he doesn't want spattering out all over the sidewalk.]

[thumbsdown]

Painkiller. Pretty strong. Addictive, too. Got a lot of people paying after using it to deal with the addiction, so it can get kinda expensive for people who don't have many caps.

[Like the people around Freeside. Boone has the luxury of not having to worry about it because he can afford treatment for addiction too, but he knows a lot of people have to weigh how bad the pain is against the cost of the Med-X itself and the possible side effects.

And yeah, he'd rather not let people hear his thoughts. He's a private person, and he doesn't want people asking about things he doesn't want to talk about.]

[most_feared]

That's probably a problem in a lot of places. Opiates are a big deal among the human population back home. Even stuff like codeine. You get enough and you can make worse drugs out of it. More addictive with more damaging side-effects.

[He doesn't really get it, but a lot of people don't get why he smokes so he shouldn't complain about it.]

I guess I got my problems. At least as long as we can still get nicotine and caffeine here I'm fine. Otherwise I'd start feeling it.

[thumbsdown]

Yeah, some people mix it with Psycho. Turns it into what people call Slasher. Makes you more violent and kinda numb to pain for a while. That's pretty dangerous in my books.

[He's never tried Psycho or Slasher, and he doesn't want to either. He'd rather have a clear head going into a fight, and neither of those drugs are going to be much help if he's using a rifle. And when it comes to close quarters, well, he can hack things up perfectly well without drugs to make him angry.]

So long as I can still get cigarettes and whiskey, I'm happy. Was wondering about it before I got here. Brought some with me just incase. Turns out I didn't need to.

[most_feared]

I bet people on that are a joy to deal with.

[Kay can handle himself pretty well in close quarters, but he still doesn't think he'd want to deal with that kind of lock-jaw rage coming at him.]

What brand? Or do you just roll your own? [Hard to say from crappy future land.]

[thumbsdown]

Being angry and not feeling much pain doesn't stop them from dying when you put a bullet in their head.

[That's the best thing about being a sniper. You don't have to deal with close up insanity.]

Big Boss. Some pre-war brand. Huh... never seen any other brands, come to think of it.

[He wonders why he never paid attention to that before, then decides it's probably because it isn't important.]

[most_feared]

Well I guess that saves you some trouble but I bet when you run out you'll have to shop around.

I'm just having camels imported now. I'm not brave enough to wander into alien smoke territory yet. What is "Pre-war" to you guys? How far back? [He's generally aware that Boone and Charon come from the same world.]

[thumbsdown]

Well, it can't be any worse than some of their drinks. Guess I'll try them if I have to.

[And if not, well, he can just do what Agent K is doing.]

Just over two hundred years. Bombs fell October 2077.

[most_feared]

Mind if I ask what happened?

[Because Kay is in the unique and advantageous position to be able to prevent a lot of that kind of thing if he has to, or at least be aware of similar circumstances to keep it from happening in the future.]

[thumbsdown]

[Boone shrugs, then remembers Kay can't see him.]

Think it mostly started with countries fighting over resources. Stuff like oil was getting harder to find, and more expensive too. There were conflicts and riots, and everything was going to hell.

Nobody really knows who launched the first missiles, but I guess it doesn't matter in the end. Every country with access to nuclear weapons launched them. Whole thing lasted about two hours.

[most_feared]

Yeah. One of the reasons I hope a focus on sustainability and using all the excess from materials starts gettin' more practice.

Sounds like it fucked up the planet something fierce. How is the planet recovering?

[He should ask Charon that, too. Because it looks like he went through hell in a handbasket.]

[thumbsdown]

I don't really know much about what it was like before the war. Lot of places are still full of radiation and broken down, though. We don't have running cars or anything, either. Vegas is still standing, but only cause House shot down most of the missiles headed that way. Most places weren't so lucky.

Ghouls weren't a thing before the war, but Charon could probably tell you more about that. Not sure about animals. Seems like a lot of the things running around the wasteland probably weren't there before, but I don't know much about pre-war animals. [As an afterthought-] We still have dogs. Normal ones, not like Rex.

[most_feared]

Good on whoever this house guy is. I've had to do that a few times. Had the good fortune of being able to redirect back at the people that fired on occasion.

[Good times!]

Frank'd be glad to hear that. He's a sort of alien... dog... sentient pug-asshole-thing. Kind of a jerk but good with info.

Charon's been around that long?

[thumbsdown]

Not so sure redirecting the missiles would've done much good at that point.

[Boone frowns and squints to himself as he tries to imagine what Kay is describing. ...He's not doing a very good job of it.]

I dunno, he could be. Never asked. There are people who became ghouls after the war, too. Know a guy back home called Raul though, he was around before the bombs fell. Something about turning into a ghoul seems to make you live a whole lot longer.

[And given how fed up Charon seems to be, he gets the impression that he's been around a long time. Boone thinks he'd be fed up, too.]

[most_feared]

Yeah, it's a lot easier when you got a global network you can fall back on.

I never have figured out if livin' that long would be good or hell. [He knows he's old. He can't have too much longer.]

[thumbsdown]

I'd rather not.

[He doesn't really want to go into all the reasons behind it, but...]

Don't figure it'd be much fun outliving everyone you cared about.

[And he doesn't think he could live with himself for 200 years.]

[most_feared]

I keep my personal acquaintances pretty slim nowadays. [For reasons he doesn't go into, either.]

But yeah, I sorta wanna see where we'd go, but I figure one day I'll just be too damn tired to care.

[thumbsdown]

Might be the smart choice.

[Less people to drag down with you.]

Don't really think I wanna see where we're headed. World's already burned once. Wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.

[most_feared]

Definitely not if you work in a job where you piss off violent criminals on a regular basis. [He's not had great luck. Despite his rational excuse, though, it is because he selfishly doesn't want to be hurt again.]

Things not goin' too well there now?

[thumbsdown]

Guess it could be worse. We just pushed the Legion out of the Mojave, that's definitely not a bad thing.

[Would've been better if they'd actually killed Lanius instead of letting him go, but there's not much he can do about that now. He would've liked it if the NCR had stuck around too, but that wasn't part of Elle's plan and he didn't really expect her to change it just for him. She wanted to see Vegas independent, and that meant kicking out the Legion and the NCR.]

[most_feared]

What's the Legion?

[Yeah, he's pretty much going to go for every bit of the story if he can help it. It's the investigator in him.]

[thumbsdown]

[Boone scowls, and from the hate in his voice it's probably obvious.]

Caesar's Legion. They're slavers, made up of conquered tribes and led by a guy who decided to call himself Caesar and rule. Guys wearing crimson and skirts, pretty easy to spot. We drove them out, but it wasn't easy. Let them walk, but I think that was a mistake. Should've killed Caesar, and his men.

[most_feared]

He sounds like a prick.

A dangerous prick with a lot of influence.

But a prick.

[This is Kay's professional judgement right there.]

[thumbsdown]

Yeah, that's what I thought too. He's smart and he's got a lot of power, but he's still an asshole.

[An asshole surrounded by other assholes. Nothing had felt as good as watching his Fort burn from Hoover Dam. He hopes everyone in there died screaming.]

If his Legion ever shows up in the Mojave again, I'll be waiting for them.

[He's not so sure that they're gone entirely. He'd rather they stayed the hell away, but Boone supposes there's a plus side to it too. It would mean he gets to kill more of them.]