ｇｒａｖｅｙａｒｄ

[judgejudy]

GRAVEYARD You remember dying. It's vivid and real, and you can absolutely remember taking your last breath. By all measures, that should have been the end. And yet, like waking from a deep sleep, you awake in a comfortable bed in a quaint little bedroom, and outside the window, you can see an even more quaint little neighborhood. You can get up to explore, but before you leave the bedroom, the radio inside flickers to life. "Good morning," Judy says, calm as ever, "Let me first say that I'm sorry that we've deceived you—" Because indeed, the more you look at this little neighborhood, the more it may feel familiar to you. It's almost like this was the kind of life you had before you ended up in the complex. Though as Judy explains, it wasn't a complex at all. The complex was something called a Vault, and the Vault was meant to protect you from the cataclysmic war that nearly wiped out humanity on the surface. You were kept safe. In a sense. It seems that the Vaults ultimately weren't much of protection in the first place. But Judy has done her best to ensure that your death in the Vault wasn't truly the end. Because of the nature of what was done to you, she was able to back up your existence in the servers that support the Vault. Strictly speaking, that's where you are now. You're a digital construct, and this neighborhood is Judy's idea of how to sustain you in the coming decades. That is the downside here, of course. All you can do is simply wait for someone to discover these servers, hoping they haven't failed by then. Perhaps there might be a way for you to return to the living then... Though for now, that's a distant dream. The neighborhood is small, but clearly will allow every person their own little home when they perish. There's a chance to expand it to include whatever amenities you may dream up, and there may already be some here. In addition, you can always watch the Vault to see how they're doing. There's a television in each home, and through it, you might understand how Judy can see so much. Flipping through the channels gives you a view of nearly every room in the Vault, at least until curfew falls. It's quality entertainment, since it gives you a way to keep tabs on the living. So, how will you spend your time? — OOC Explanation

Comments

[onepunchgirl]

[After her talk with Judy, Veronica needs to take her mind off how livid she is. Being killed is one thing, but to learn everyone had been trapped in a sick Enclave experiment had gone past her limit.

So what will she do? Well, she's going to do her duty and "test" the limits of this Vault. For reporting purposes of course (no not at all actually.) Which means you'll be seeing her...uh...punching shit. A lot of shit. Buildings, trees, cars--]

Fucking Enclave assholes.

[Yeah someone may want to talk to her.]

[heroizes]

[ As Jack approaches Veronica, he can basically only think "same," though he's already taken out his anger elsewhere. Considering he already destroyed part of his stupid little house in his anger earlier... Yeah, he gets it. He approaches with crossed arms, though he does keep a safe distance. He's already been punched once, and while he can't say it's that unfair, he's pretty sure Veronica might literally break his jaw, so.

Safe distance it is. ]

Yyyeah, same. [ Might as well just vocalize it, at least. ] Why're you so pissed at- Uh, what'd you just say? "Enclave"? Thought this was all friggin' Vault-Tec's fault for, y'know, being lying dickholes.

[onepunchgirl]

[She turns around when she hears Jack, and offers a vague attempt at a friendly smile. Veronica can't remember the last time she was so furious (probably because some of her memories are missing thanks Judy) but that's no reason to take it out on Jack.]

Enclave, Vault-Tec, they're basically one in the same. The Enclave are the descendants of the bastards who created the Vaults to begin with, and they continued on the work of their forefathers. What was marketed as a means of preserving humanity was really just sick experimentation.

[heroizes]

[ Jack crosses his arms as he listens, and though he looks doubtful, it's not quite disbelieving. He'd assumed that everyone would have gotten their memories back as he did, and he of course doesn't realize that Veronica is something of a special case here. ]

I mean, yeah, super getting that now because a certain piece of shit worked for 'em and convinced me to be a part of it.

[ Not naming names. But. He's bitter. He's so bitter. ]

But, uh, descendants, that's... Weird. Honestly. How do you know about that? Isn't the the fut— No, I guess it's present now. Whatever. Point being, there's a time issue there.

[onepunchgirl]

[She clenches her teeth lightly, not quite sure how to explain it. On the first day she had a talk with Elizabeth about different worlds, "dimensional travel" or whatever, and she wonders how much of that is at play. Were people given false memories, or are they really from another...place.]

It's...complicated. I'm not even sure how to begin talking about it. [She crosses her arms and sighs.] Well, I guess from the beginning - I'm from this "world" I guess you can say. The history of Vaults is well recorded, and I was taught about them and the Enclave as a child. They're the enemies of my family, the Brotherhood of Steel.

[heroizes]

[ Jack looks surprised as Veronica speaks, but he ends up reaching up to rub the back of his neck a bit awkwardly. ]

Oh, uh— Yeah, I'm from this world too. Nnnnot sure how I forgot that, but, yeah, I know what Vaults are and stuff. Friend of mine works— [ He pauses, then sighs as he drops his hand back to rest on his hip. ] Well, worked, I guess, for Vault-Tec. But the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel, haven't heard of them. Sssshould've been clearer, but that's what I was asking about there.

[onepunchgirl]

Yeah, it make sense you haven't. [And if he really doesn't know, then her and Danse really must be some kind of special situation. They don't fit the norm.] Being inside a Vault... it means you entered before the Great War. Before the nuclear warheads destroyed the world. You don't know those things because they came afterward - everyone must have been frozen in time, or something.

I was only born after the War happened. The Enclave, the Brotherhood, they're Post-War organizations. Does that make sense?

[heroizes]

[ Jack nods as she explains how he came here and why, because neither is really a surprise to him. It wasn't like he'd signed up to be in the Vault the day the bombs dropped like certain protagonists, so he'd accepted the bombs actually dropping one day as something inevitable. Still, as she speaks, it's a complicated feeling. For one, he remembers again like he did when he woke up in this not-quite-death that everything he remembers now, that whole way of life? It's gone. Maybe long gone, considering how they were frozen in time somehow.

But on the other hand, the fact that Veronica is here, talking about the fact that it wasn't the end of the world, that's a bit surprising. Everything they'd heard before was about how if that moment came, only the people in the Vaults would survive. Jack is a smart enough guy to know that objectively, that was probably a hyperbole, but still. There's something comforting in the fact that Veronica even can talk about what came after, though it's a very small glimmer of hope by comparison.

Jack pauses when she's done explaining, since he's clearly trying to gather his thoughts, but the question he ends up asking is fairly simple. ]

So... What's it like out there, then?

[onepunchgirl]

["How is it like" isn't quite so simple as he thinks. Not when she's speaking to someone who may not have seen the world for close to a 100 years outside this Vault. There have been Vault dwellers who integrated into society, but they were all descendants of the original groups within. They left the Vault with some idea of what would be out there. Many left and then returned, or made their Vault open to the public. One she knows is some kind of attraction in New Vegas.

Still she smiles softly, deciding how to express her thoughts.]

It's not as bad you think it is. [Maybe that's the best way to start off.] It isn't the world you left behind, but humanity has persevered. There are settlements, market trade, organizations. Generations have lived past the war, and live happy lives. It won't be an easy life for all you who need to integrate, but if others have done it then so can you. If we get out of this digital dump, I would be more than happy to help people find safe havens at the least.

[The only downer is that there's no way she can go to the Brotherhood of Steel. Her family would likely just kill her if they found out she was a personality reconstructed via code. A grave abomination of technology - she can never go home again.]