Announcement 001

[intercom_voice]

[Whether you're waking up in the clinic just now, or have already done so and are now wandering the halls, a sudden screech of microphone feedback blares over the speakers before fading back out.

A moment later, a woman clears her throat. Her voice is husky and mature, but still feminine, and overall she sounds very authoritative...if not a bit sarcastic.]

Good evening, and welcome to the new school year. I hope your arrival was a pleasant one, last year everybody threw-up from motion sickness, it was quite messy.

[There's a long pause as she seems to think, or perhaps just let any anticipated bustling chatter calm down.] Now, you're all intelligent human beings...for the most part. But I suppose I'll pretend I'm talking to the insipid uneducated masses for a moment; it shouldn't prove too difficult.

[She clears he throat again.] In every hall, you shall find a small intercom. You may use that to ask me any questions after my announcements and "privately" converse. Now, if you head North down one of the halls near the clinic in the Central Wing and keep going, you'll eventually come to either the West or East Dorm Wings, depending on which fork in the road you chose. There you'll find all necessary bunk beds and spare socks.

So, make sure you're all well rested for class in the morning; we wouldn't want to get a failing grade now would we?

[And with that, there's another burst of feedback before her announcement abruptly ends. Anybody who had been wandering the halls will notice a distinct lack of...well, anybody else aside from new arrivals, the Nurse, and the Lunch Lady.

The strange woman over the loudspeakers may have mentioned classes, but the school seemed completely devoid of any teachers to provide those classes. In fact, a lot of things seemed...off.]

---

Speak to the Voice
General Mingle

Have fun, and don't forget to tag the post with your series name and use warning headers when necessary!

Comments

[leanonstuff]

I wish it was something obvious like that.

[Catching himself staring, Norman shakes his head to snap himself out of it, then looks slightly to the side instead. Now isn't the time to be zoning out or focusing on addictive substances.]

I'd say 'nice to meet you, Boone,' but...

[Being threatened with a rifle isn't generally a good start to any discussion.]

Where are you from?

[thumbsdown]

Then what is it? Unless we're in the middle of a giant radscorpion nest or something, I can't see the problem.

[He takes another drag of his cigarette and looks back up at Norman.]

Unless the outskirts are heavily radiated...

[Shit, that's not something he can fight his way through.]

Yeah, well. Considering the circumstances, it isn't nice. I was in Novac before I ended up here. On duty.

[So he wasn't even sleeping.]

[leanonstuff]

Rad... scorpion?

[Norman has never heard scorpions described as 'rad'. Personally, he doesn't think they're all that special.]

Radiated? [This isn't some sort of war zone! ...Is it?]

All I found were invisible barriers. I don't know anything about those others things. You must be a soldier?

[He said he was 'on duty' and he kinda has the soldier look. The weapon adds to the effect.]

[thumbsdown]

Yeah. The smaller ones aren't so tough to kill, but once in a while you run across some giant ones. If you're fast, you can outrun them.

[If you're packing armour piercing bullets, you can kill them... but there tend to be groups, and if you get cornered you're as good as dead.]

This place doesn't seem all that affected by the war from what I can see here, but that doesn't mean that it's safe out there. Some places just get lucky. It doesn't matter in the end. If the bombs didn't get it, something else will. That's just how the world works.

[Invisible barriers? That doesn't make sense to Boone. Of course, he realises he isn't exactly a genius, but... and how can you not know anything about radscorpions, or the radiation? Did this guy just crawl out of a Vault or something?]

...I was. I'm not anymore.

[leanonstuff]

Sure... if you say so.

[Maybe the term 'giant' is relative. A giant scorpion could still be pretty small if it's just in comparison to other ordinary sized scorpions.]

What war? Were you in Afghanistan?

[Oh geez, hopefully they aren't in Afghanistan now. Going after serial killers is one thing; living in a war zone is another.]

Oh... sorry.

[thumbsdown]

[Okay, now this guy was seriously... acting strange. Everyone knows about the war. He actually peers over his sunglasses at Norman with narrowed eyes, arching an eyebrow.]

The war. Are you messing with me right now? I don't have time for games.

[leanonstuff]

I'm not messing with you. Are you messing with me?

[He has no idea what the war could be.]

Can you give me a clue what you're talking about?

[thumbsdown]

[The man seems genuinely confused. Is he brain damaged? Maybe he comes from a Vault that never even mentions the outside world, or history...? He has no idea how someone can be so uninformed.]

October 23rd, 2077. Nuclear weapons are launched by pretty much everyone who has them. Lasted two hours, near enough destroyed the entire world. That war.

[Christ, that's not something he's ever had to explain before.]

[leanonstuff]

Woah... woah. What?!

[That's not an amusing joke! Although Norman knows he'll be either dead or extremely old by then, it's still not something he likes the idea of.]

Of course I don't know about that war... it hasn't happened. It's only 2011.

[thumbsdown]

[Boone groans and rubs his forehead. Great, he's insane.]

So you're telling me you're from nearly 300 years ago. Alright, fine. We'll have it your way.

[How do you deal with crazy people? Boone doesn't know.]

If I find a radscorpion out here I'll be sure to find you.

[leanonstuff]

[Boone is the insane one here, talking about wars that haven't happened and being hundreds of years in the future.]

Yeah, I guess I am.

[Hopefully there are no giant scorpions lurking around here. That's going to make him worry at night... luckily he's able to sleep on a top bunk since no one else is sharing his room.]

Anything else I should look out for?

[thumbsdown]

I'd be here for hours listing them all, but yeah. Where I'm from we have a ghoul problem, but those are easy enough to shoot down so long as there's not a whole herd of them.

[Which could potentially happen one day, if the root of the problem isn't sorted out. He knows Manny is more worried about it than he is, but maybe that's because Manny actually wants to stay in Novac. Boone has nothing left in that place.]

If you're especially unlucky you might into Cazadores, Nightstalkers or Deathclaws. Giant Radscorpions can be hard to kill, too. Everything else will usually go down in a few shots, and isn't as likely to come at you in packs or poison you. Get yourself cornered and nine times out of ten it's game over. You should keep that in mind no matter what you're up against.

[leanonstuff]

Ghoul problem...

[He's not even sure he wants to know exactly what that means. Hopefully all of this is just nonsense.]

Those are some pretty scary names there.

[Norman isn't sure if he's prepared to fight something called a 'deathclaw'. Maybe it would be best to have this guy as an ally after all.]

And you think those things could be here, in the school?

[thumbsdown]

I didn't name them, but you're right. Still, even with reputations to add to the names, you'll always find people out in the wastes who thought they could take on a group of Cazadores and wound up dead. That's not even counting the ones who actually head into Deathclaw nests and never come back out again. Nobody dares to go look for them.

[Finishing his cigarette, Boone flicks the nub onto the floor and steps on it. He isn't used to having to keep his litter confined to bins. The wasteland is a mess, nobody gives a shit anymore.]

Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see, I guess.