private FoE: Aftermath; After the Fact (1x1 with Meson Bolt)

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"Hmm?" Kronos asked curiously when Foray beckoned him. When he came over to the corpses, he examined what was on them and how they died.

 

"There seem to be some entry and exit wounds on some of their legs and parts of their torsos, suggesting that someone or something was attacking them. The positions of the wounds are too inconsistent to be bullet wounds, however, since the entry wounds appear on their backs and the exit wounds are on their abdomens. This coupled with the asymmetrical diameter of the entry and exit wounds suggest that some large, conic and curved object must have stabbed these two victims repeatedly from the top through the bottom. On top of that, the predation of these corpses is consistent with arthropod feeding patterns. If I were to make an educated guess, I would say that this was the work of a radscorpion. Whether or not it was the same radscorpion we encountered earlier is subject to speculation."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"Yep, I figured as much..." Foray retorted, somewhat sarcastically. "If it wasn't the radscorpion from before, we'd probably be hearing rumbling like before, but I don't hear any..." She paused for a moment to confirm her statement, before continuing, "So I'd say this cabin is pretty safe... at least for now."

 

Aside from the hole in the floor, the house was mostly intact. Embers glowed softly from a large fireplace by the wall, cracked from the radscorpion's entry but still standing. A stairwell led up to a second floor -- most likely to the bedrooms -- and windows from the adjacent kitchen wing were open. A lone door in the corner led to a different room.

 

"I'mma check the cupboards for anything edible," the unicorn called out as she headed for the kitchen. "Why not see if you can find anything we might be able to trade... watch the stairs though, I don't think they'll hold your weight."

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"Haha," Kronos replied, "This place is worn down as it is, I might as well jump through the second floor or climb the walls of this place. Anyhow, I'll try to find things that may be of value to others." He rummaged through the belongings of the corpses and all of the possible storage compartments including suitcases, steamer trunks and even dressers. He did end up finding a few good things like some unmodified weapons and ammo to spare and he did find a few suits that he figured he could put some sort of protective weave on to wear for later. He also found some armor that he figured he could use. He ended up scrounging together some metal and combat armor pieces while having some leather armor to spare for trading. In the end, he ended up with a few suits, some armor pieces, a couple of weapons and some ammo for them as well as lots of items that he knows can be scrapped for useful material such as copper and circuitry.

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray was well at work in the kitchen, searching every last nook and cranny for any sort of edible thing. Thankfully, the cupboards were stocked almost to the limit with all sorts of a Wastelander's diet; mutfruit, wild berries, sugar puffs, and copious amounts of all types of meat.

 

Sweet, probably can make some pemmican out of this for the road...

 

After scavenging as much as she figured she'd need, she turned back to the living room and was quite surprised to find Kronos had already finished.

 

"Feel like cooking something? This kitchen has literally everything..." she stated cheerily, inspecting whatever gear he'd found.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos turned towards Foray, smiling as she asked him, "Hehe, if you'd like, Foray. You, uh, have a preference to what you'd like to eat?" He set all of the stuff he scavenged aside in a makeshift bag made up of some sheets he found. He went over to the kitchen and saw the same thing Foray saw: Working cooking equipment, which was much more than the rest of the wasteland can offer, and most importantly ingredients to cook with. "Ahh, jackpot. Just what I need to start cooking some stuff. So, like I asked before, do you have a preference of what you'd like to eat?"

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"Radstag meat would be fine..." she replied, rummaging through the gear he'd found. "Don't use all of it up though, I'm gonna make it into pemmican for the trip -- we don't know when our next meal is gonna be."

 

After she'd taken inventory and sorted around some of the gear into categories, she plopped down in front of the fireplace tiredly. "Wanna spend the night here? It's gonna be dark soon..."

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

As he cooked some of the radstag meat, Kronos replied to Foray's question, "Better than chancing a trek out here in the dark, buddy. Who know's what'll try and ambush us in the dark out there." Kronos took some of what he can only guess were spices and sprinkled it over the radstag meat for their dinner. He set up the stove and went on to find some pans to cook. When he finally finished cooking, he set their meal down at the table. "Foray, dinner's ready." he called out as he sat down setting his plate down and setting Foray's dinner across from him.

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Bring it over here, I don't feel like getting up, she thought, chuckling to herself. Staggering to her hooves, she ambled over to the table and sat down.

 

"...Huh. Breakfast first, and now this? You're quite the cook, aren't you?" Foray asked with a smile. "Where'd you learn?"

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"Well," Kronos explained, "Setting out on my own journey outside of my home since the age of 20 allowed me to really refine my craft of some survival skills, including cooking. As far as learning how to cook this irradiated crap, well, I've been here since the wasteland's reckoning, so I had time to learn how to properly prepare the meat of the irradiated wildlife here." He noticed Foray's staggering as she came up to the table and asked, "You sure you're okay there, Foray?"

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"Mmph," was Foray's muffled answer, as his ill-timed question caught her as she'd just taken a bite. Staring awkwardly for a moment, she swallowed quickly and replied, "Yeah, just a bit tired. I'm not really used to getting shot in the leg, and it's taking a lot outta me."

 

Taking a moment to compose herself, she asked, "Must've been hard setting out on your own without any savvy, huh? I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't been properly trained."

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"Well, that's the thing about the way I grew up," Kronos replied, "As I explained before, as children, Ragnarokians are cast out their homes and into the city streets at the age of 5 and aren't allowed to come back home until they grow up into their teenage years, so that basically builds up their necessary combat and survival skills until they start getting formally trained by their family members. Of course, whenever children don't come back from being cast out, a funeral and wake is typically held for the families of those fallen children. Statistically, only about 60% of children make it back, so there are always lots of children being born there to increase the chances of a family's child returning. Then again, after being sent off to search for welcoming kingdoms, I had to improvise on the fly from there on out. Of course, whenever a Ragnarokian was sent off, they were always given a few things by their families before departing. Since I was pretty much a cyborg before departing, it was easy for my family to endow me with certain aspects of survival. My mother downloaded basic cooking methods as well as how to cook with improvised equipment and rations, my father bestowed upon me blessings of Al-Shera va Xerox, the Ragnarokian God of Destruction, and Ra-Biolas va Ra, the Ragnarokian Goddess of Creation. My older sister gave me some weapons and ammunition, which I never used to this day. So, yeah, that's how my basic survival instincts were developed."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray frowned as she listened to his story.

 

"Hm... sounds brutal. I can't imagine how a society like that has enough young to continue to prosper," she replied solemnly. "I'm sure there's protests and stuff against that way of living..."

 

Having finished her plate during Kronos' speech, she sat back and added, "I'm pretty different, honestly. Ponies in Stable 105 were trained as young foals for the 'just in case' the land became habitable again... how to find shelter, how to make a fire, how to improvise food and purify water, all that stuff. I was a bit of an over-achiever, and decided to take optional courses in medical training. I ah..." She scratched her head gently, "Don't mean to brag, but I've got nurse-level training in radiation treatment..."

 

"Anyway, after leaving the Stable, my skills came in handy when I was on my own, but I didn't really know much about weapons, and... well, after sort of being kidnapped by Troop 92, I was forced to learn really really quickly, or it was the breeding rack for me." Foray shuddered. "Thankfully I'm a quick learner."

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"Eee, sounds harsh being put into a situation like that," Kronos replied after sucking in air through his teeth, "I mean, I've heard about some Stables being made for breeding experiments but being part of something dubbed 'the breeding rack', ugh, that's doesn't sound very pleasant. Also, you're also trained in medical sciences? That's rather interesting. I mean, I got a little bit of formal training on Equestrian anatomy as well as Medicinal Pathology. Basically, I know how to 'fix' ponies, however, with the training I was given, that knowledge is only applicable to fellow Ragnarokians. In terms of Medicinal Pathology, I learned how to make a few strains of viruses that turned very lethal as well as how to cure them. Of course, all of my research was lost during the reckoning of the wasteland, and then the Enclave captured me one time and downloaded all the data from my head, then I blew up the station they imprisoned me in with the help of this strange cult within the Enclave that worshiped me for some odd reason. It's a long story."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"Trust me, it's just as horrifying as it sounds," she replied solemnly. "Troop 92 were short on numbers after the First War of Aggression, and so they needed a quick way... y'know, I don't wanna talk about that."

 

Standing up and heading towards a window, she noted, "Huh, getting dark already. Don't wanna miss the sunset, do ya?" and headed towards the door, stopping for a brief moment to add, "To navigate, I mean."

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos took a moment to process his partner's initial beckoning until she continued her reply. "Oh, of course," he responded, "we don't need to make our road more difficult under the cover of darkness. Then again, the darkness would provide some cover for us while we travel. You wanna try trekking in the dark or sleep out the night and wait until the break of dawn to continue on?"

 

I thought she was coming on to me at first, Kronos thought to himself, Then again, the way she simply worded it just threw you off.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Kronos the Revenant

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray chuckled and shook her head. "I'm charting the movement of the stars to figure out which direction we should be headed, since I kinda know where we are already. There aren't too many radscorpion-infested woods out there..."

 

Stepping out onto the front porch, she looked up at the sky and sat down, pulling out a notepad and pen.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos looked over Foray's shoulder, wondering what she was writing down. "So, you're partially a doctor and partially an astronomer, huh? Cool," he said, "back when things were peaceful and times were a little simpler, I used to love laying down on the ground at night and just do a little stargazing."

 

This could be a little easier with an astrolabe, Kronos thought to himself, Or do you use a sextant? No, wait, those are for sailors, right? Eh, I don't know, just let the expert do her thing.

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Kronos would find that Foray's notepad was covered in charts of stars and constellations, all drawn extremely accurately, but horribly misnamed.

 

"Well when you're on your own, and you don't have a Pipbuck or a compass, the stars are the only way that you can get around," Foray replied, gazing into the sunset and marking down the position of the sun. "That's something I was taught in training -- travel by day, check your course in the evening. If you were headed the wrong way, you'll only have to backtrack one day's journey..."

 

Flipping a few pages to reveal a large, folded-up map of the Domain and its surrounding areas, she added, "Fortunately, we won't have to backtrack... we're close to a settlement called Fetlock, and it's a two-day walk from there to the Domain. No paved roads, just a well-traveled dirt path, so no more forest hiking."

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Holy crap, Kronos thought when he saw Foray pull out a large map of the Domain, THAT'S how big the Domain is? Shit, that's almost the size of Ragnarok before my conquest.

 

"Thank the Goddess," Kronos replied, "An actual settlement is nearby. What's there at this settlement called Fetlock. exactly? I just wanna know if there are places to wind down and relax there: clubs, joints, bars, places like that, is there anything like that there?"

Edited October 28, 2016 by Kronos the Revenant

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"What's with the shocked expression?" she replied with a smirk. "Never seen a map before?"

 

Foray's gentle smile quickly turned to a frown as she heard his request. "...No, Fetlock doesn't have that. It's a settlement, not a city. If that's the kind of stuff you're into, you're better off heading to Tenpony Tower... besides, isn't sitting around in this cabin and chilling with me unwinding enough?" She sounded slightly hurt as she voiced her last sentence.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"I've seen many maps of many regions," Kronos replied, "But the Domain just looks huge. Or is this map just largely scaled? Anyways, that's kind of a darn shame that there's nothing like that in Fetlock."

 

He then recalled parts of Foray's last statement and replied, "Well, I've been to Tenpony Tower before and I'll admit, service there is pretty good, but, a little bit too much luxury for my taste. I got bored of that place very quickly. And, yes, chilling with you was pretty unwinding, but I just didn't think that you were comfortable with my presence and that always irks me whenever I have companions that are uncomfortable with my presence."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"It's not that big... about a three-day journey across," Foray replied, folding her map up and turning back to label some more misnamed constellation drawings. "But this is a map of the Domain and its surrounding areas, which includes settlements for trade routes, outposts, radio towers, et cetera."

 

Nudging him playfully, she added, "Hey, we've been companions for what... two days now? Not counting before we left that hell hole... I'm pretty chill with you, as long as you don't do... y'know, that weird stuff you did last night."

Edited October 31, 2016 by Meson Bolt

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"Yeah, I know," Kronos replied, "I'm keeping that in check. I just didn't think that you'd, you know, still be comfortable with me being around you considering our, well, let's just call it our 'history' together. That sounded more weird than I thought it would. It's still nice to know that you're comfortable with me being around you even after all the crap that's involved the both of us."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray chuckled lightly, glancing at her companion for a few moments before folding up her notepad and dropping it in her saddlebags.

 

"Well, I've plotted our course for tomorrow," she announced. "Probably best for us to--shit!" The unicorn winced as she'd instinctively gotten up on all fours, her wounded leg giving way immediately. "...To ah... get some sleep," she managed to finish.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"Why don't you just sleep down here since your leg's all busted up?" Kronos asked Foray, "I promise I won't do anything weird just like back in the bunker. Hell, I'll even sleep in the kitchen if you'll be comfortable with that and you can take the couch for the night."