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vault1132023-04-10 05:36 pm
WEEK 1 MINGLE
As you sleep, you find your mind plagued with strange dreams. You’re still trapped, of course, there’s no way to avoid that, even in the comfort of your own mind, but you’re alone. Utterly alone. The radios and jukeboxes scattered around the place all spring to life, as if they’re speaking to you directly. On the other end, you see people talk about you. From your own perspective, it can’t have been more than… 48 hours since you were taken. From the perspectives of those on the outside, the times don’t match up nearly so well. It might have been days. It might have been weeks. It might have been months.
The voices discuss you. They discuss the way things have changed. They talk about how you just suddenly disappeared without a trace. Maybe they’re glad, glad that you weren’t around to see what happened without you. Or maybe they’re angry. Maybe they know that it was your fault. If only you’d been there, none of this would have happened. If you’d met up with that friend, they wouldn’t have died. If you’d been there to save her, things would have been different. If you had apologized, maybe… or if you hadn’t abandoned your responsibilities…
You don’t get the specifics either way. Your dream - or vision, it leaves your imagination to do all the work. But there’s one thing you can be absolutely sure of.
You are running out of time.
Well, what’s there to be glum about? The vault is your home now, lovingly prepared by Vault-Tec™! Who cares what some ghosts from the past have to say about you, eh? It’s not like you’ll ever see them again.
And no matter how deeply you were sleeping, The Overseer’s voice sounds out on the intercom and seems to wake you immediately.
“Hello, lovelies. We’ve decided to be extra generous to all of you, so we bring some good news for a change. I’m sure in the last few days, you’ve gotten pretty sick of that walled off little cellblock you’re cramped in, so you’ll be positively giddy to learn that we’ve prepared and unlocked the rest of the first level for you all to explore to your heart’s content. If you’ve given up on ever getting out of here, make yourself at home. If you haven’t, well, there’s plenty of fun and interesting tools to integrate into your work whenever you decide to take advantage the former group’s complete lack of initiative or willpower.
Oh, and before I forget… check the common room before you go.”
With that particularly nasty announcement, you will find that the doors that locked the rest of this floor off to you have all been opened up. And in addition to that, the profiles have been made public, joining the rules as framed pictures in the common room.
And if you wish to contact your Overseer or her robotic assistant, you are free to stop for a chat.
no subject
No, you don't owe them. But most people expect an act, in my experience. They fall in love with the things they want someone else to be, and not what they are.
If you ever decide to bother with love, try not to do that to yourself. It's not worth it.
no subject
[ sounds like a them problem. not a klaasje problem. don’t set impossible expectations and then get all disappointed when they’re not met, idiots. ]
Well, you’re great. Their disappointment or frustration or whatever has nothing to do with you. It’s all on them. They failed themselves, not you. Even if [ grudgingly] it wasn’t their choice to fall in love.
no subject
Thank you. That does make me feel a little better about it.
Now I just have to make sure I don't disappoint you, too, and I'll be stitched up.
no subject
no subject
[ She holds up two fingers. ]
You're too sweet to do anything to disappoint me on purpose, and you're too smart to do it by accident.
[ One finger goes down. ]
Even if you did, I'd forgive you.
[ And there's the other. Simple as that. ]
no subject
I hope so. [ he really does. ] And anything I do, I'll do for reasons that are right to me.
I think maybe you're the same.
no subject
I try to have a reason.
[ It's gone. She's easy again, relaxed. ]
I almost have to ask...are you sure your name isn't Finn Goldman?
no subject
some of it is because he's young, still looking to people like lindsey and gramps to explain the intricacy of the adult heart and mind to him. the rest? he just doesn't like things being cryptic and messy. ]
Trying is all anyone can ask. Of themselves and others. But sometimes, we're pretty harsh on ourselves already, don't you think?
[ and their reasons... he doesn't think they need to be understood by everyone. ]
Are you saying I have a heart of gold?
no subject
[ She taps the side of her nose: he got it in one guess. ]
I think you do. So you should be careful no one tries to steal it. Do you know what gold is trading for these days? It's a problem.
[ And it's like she's about to snake past his question, which could be so easily interpreted as rhetorical - ]
And you're right. We can be.
no subject
It's more like a heart of chump change, some lint and a bit of stray luck here and there. But thanks.
[ he looks happy that she thinks so well of him, like a scruffy golden mutt that's found a good human to be its food-giving, praise-singing friend. ]
Yeah, the way I see it: if I do something dumb, I trust you to call me out on it. And if you do something dumb, I'll say it. No offense to either of us 'cause you'll still know I think you're fucking fantastic. And the other way around holds, too.
no subject
[ She could almost scratch him behind the ears and set his imaginary tail wagging. It's...good, that feeling, watching him soak up praise so happily. ]
And I'll take that deal any day of the week. [ She puts her hand out for him to shake, in perfect seriousness. ] You're pretty fucking fantastic too.