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

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray shook her head and chuckled as she stepped indoors. "Nah, my leg will be fine... I just forgot about it for a moment while I was talking with you. Besides, you haven't gotten a good night's sleep yet, and... well, you're kind of my tank, so it's important that you do. I'll stay up and watch for a while..."

 

Turning towards the living room, she added, "I can heat up the fireplace if you'd like, it's a lot better than trying to stay warm in a chilly night."

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"That would be nice," Kronos replied, "Can't really keep my systems working in the morning if they're working all night trying to regulate my own body temperature."

 

Heh, Kronos thought as he rested, It's nice to know that I'm still of use to someone out here. It's also nice to know how caring she can be when things are good between us. I should keep things this way until she thinks otherwise.

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray nodded as she delicately stacked some firewood into the fireplace, lighting it with another fireball produced by her horn. In a moment the once dark living room was illuminated by a soft glow.

 

"I can't keep this on all night, it'll attract raiders," she warned, leaning beside the fireplace and eyeing Kronos' pile of junk. "But as soon as it's hot enough, the timbers will keep us warm for the night."

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

"Thanks, Foray," Kronos told her, "And I'll try to keep an eye out for any raiders that might come over this way." He came up to the fireplace and laid himself down right in front of the fire, its warmth causing Kronos to disregard the cold, wooden floorboards he's sleeping on. "Call me crazy, but sleeping directly in front of the fire this way actually feels really nice."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"You're not crazy," Foray retorted with a smile. "You just have a thick hide."

 

Grabbing a thin blanket from her saddlebags, she draped it over her companion quietly before leaning back and shrugging off her pack. Sifting through the weapons that Kronos had found earlier, she began to unload any live ammo from the firearms and load them into her own spare magazines, waiting patiently until Kronos had fallen asleep.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos overheard Foray unloading the ammunition from the weapons he collected. He looked over his shoulder and chuckled to himself, not minding his companion's actions.

 

I'm sure she has her reasons for doing that, he thought, maybe she thinks of trading the ammo later. It actually seems genius. After that thought, along with the warmth of the fire right in front of him, he slowly felt his eyes get heavy as he fell asleep.

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray eyed Kronos slowly as she saw him fall asleep, smiling softly as she continued to fiddle with the ammunition stores. There wasn't much ammo she could use herself, but there was a decent bit for trading.

 

She thought about Kronos. He certainly wasn't her first companion that she'd become attached to -- almost every companion came with some level of emotional baggage -- and he certainly wasn't the last. But he was somehow different. Maybe because he was far older than she, maybe because he was cybernetic, maybe because he wasn't from the Domain. Maybe a combination of the three.

 

He's never seen the Domain, huh? It's not the best neighborhood... wonder if he'll survive looking like a power-armored pony. There are plenty of fundamentalist Free Hooves and partisan snipers who'd take a shot at him thinking he was a Silver. Then again, he's really old... I forget how old, but at least a thousand years. If he's that old, he's bound to have some tricks up his sleeve.

 

She glanced over to him again. Still, he'd better watch his head. Once we leave Fetlock, the trail's gonna get a lot harder...

((Timeskip to about 3:00 AM))

 

"Big guy... c'mon, on your hooves... we've got trouble...!" Foray whispered as she tried to wake Kronos as quietly as possible, keeping her eyes peeled on the windows and brandishing her buster pistols.

 

After staying up for several hours, Foray had slowly drifted to sleep herself, letting the fire burn for much longer than she expected it to. Though the logs were now nothing but smoldering ashes, the smoke had attracted a gang of... something. From the many sounds Foray'd been awakened by from several directions, she feared the cabin was being surrounded by the gang -- probably raiders.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos woke up at the sound of Foray's order. He got up and scanned the immediate vicinity despite being indoors by sheer instinct. He noticed that his companion was lazily wallowing around. It looked as is she was deprived of sleep, which he took a little bit of guilt towards considering the things she did to make sure he was well-rested. He decided to try and return the favor by looking around, searching for whatever may be surrounding them. He reached into his bag of junk and pulled out a random item and tossed it outside, hoping to lure out whoever or whatever's outside. He cracked his knuckles and his eyes glowed a tense shade of red and he gave a low growl, signaling his readying for imminent combat.

Edited November 6, 2016 by Kronos the Revenant

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"Shh, what are you doing?!" Foray hissed, trying to catch whatever he'd thrown but unable to keep it from smashing onto the dried leaves outside. Glaring at Kronos for a moment, she crouched low behind one of the living room couches, eyeing the front door keenly. She could make out faint voices and, a bit later, footsteps growing louder and louder.

 

Sounds like a lot of 'em... five, maybe six ponies... raiders no doubt.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos pulled out his shotgun and aimed it right at the door, readying a shot for whoever may come through. When he heard Foray hissing at him, he whispered back, "I'm trying to see if I can lure them to a certain area with something. It's a strange tactic that seems to work surprisingly well for some odd reason. Besides, chill out. If they start shooting, I'll draw fire by running right outside and try to beat down as many of them as I can."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"This cabin is made of wood, Kron. Not brick and mortar. If they see you they'll torch the place..." she warned him, eyeing the back windows and covering them quietly.

 

As he was moving towards the front of the house, Foray held back and listened. She could again hear voices, though she was unsure of their direction.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos took Foray's warning into consideration. Noting it, he tried to peek outside some of the windows. He can't see any of the thugs that Foray said were outside. "Well then," Kronos asked Foray, "What do you suggest we do, then? We can't just wait them out because I kinda screwed that option up and I doubt that Mother Nature will be willing to intervene in this situation."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"Take what we can and clear out..." she replied with a whisper. "There's gotta be more than one way out of this place... basement, bomb shelter... something..."

 

Taking note of how far away she thought the raiders were, Foray added, "Just hold them off if you can, I'm gonna look for an exit..." and crept over to one of the house's hallways, checking into the rooms methodically.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos nodded at Foray and pulled out some weapons out of his bag of random items. He managed to pull out an assault rifle and a Super Sledge.

 

Strange, Kronos thought to himself, I don't remember picking up any of these. Oh well, better make use of them.

 

He put the Super Sledge on his back and drew out his assault rifle and his shotgun in akimbo fashion and kept them aimed at the doorway, waiting for any raiders to come right through. Moments later, some raiders kicked down the door. Almost as soon as he saw their silhouettes, Kronos squeezed the triggers of his weapons, unleashing a storm of bullets on them. "EAT BULLETS, RAIDERS!!!!!" he yelled as he slowly advanced towards the opened doorway. He managed to drop down two of the raiders that were trying to go through the door. When he got outside, he frantically looked around for the others. There was a hint of rage in his eyes and his breath as he snorted while searching for the other raiders. When he went around the corner, he quickly retreated back to be sure that none of the raiders tried to come around on him. When he got inside, he took a deep breath to calm himself down and asked Foray, "Foray, you find a way out yet? I'm not sure if these guys have found another way in yet and I'm not looking forward to finding out if they did or not."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

As Foray had expected, the raiders weren't going to be mowed down easily, and Kronos' battle cry had only served to blow his cover. A trio of molotovs crashed through the windows and smashed against the floors, the dried wood structure catching fire almost immediately. In only a few moments the entire front of the house was aflame, the hungry fire working its way back towards the rear, towards Kronos and Foray.

 

Yep... great job, Kronos.

 

Foray wasn't that disturbed by the heat and the roaring flames -- fire was her element, and she was used to being around it a lot, however she knew that Kronos wouldn't be able to hold out by himself for much longer. Rushing through a low corridor down to the basement, she lost her footing on the steps and tumbled down, her head clanging loudly against a rug at the bottom.

 

...Wait... rugs don't clang like metal, she thought, reorienting herself from her fall. Grabbing the corner of the rug, she tossed it aside, revealing a steel trapdoor. It was locked, and obviously too heavy to lift herself, but that's what Kronos was for.

 

"Kronos, down here!" she called, grabbing a few more bobby pins from her mane and fiddling with the lock.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Meson Bolt

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos gave a confused grunt when he heard Foray call out to him and he rushed back inside.

 

Oh shit, he thought as he saw that there was fire inside the cabin, The damn shack is on fire. If we make it out of this, I know for a fact that Foray is gonna be very pissed at me.

 

He rushed into the cabin to where Foray was at. He noticed that Foray was unlocking what looked to be a reinforced trapdoor. If this was here, he thought, why didn't the previous occupants retreat into this trapdoor? Oh well, don't dwell too much on it, Foray needs you, dude.

 

When he saw that Foray successfully remove the lock, he grabbed his bag of items and went over to the trapdoor and easily lifted it up. After Foray went through, he slung his bag of junk over his shoulder, crawled inside, then crudely placed the rug back on top before continuing his descent.

 

When he got down with Foray, he told her, "Look, I know you're pissed off at me, so let me just start with I'm sorry for acting a little rash back there. It was my fault that they burned down this place, so, yell at me all you want. I deserve to be reprimanded."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"Yeah, no time," Foray retorted, hastily shoving whatever she could find to secure the passageway. There weren't any lights in the cellar, and once the door dropped shut, the two were plunged into complete darkness.

 

"The whole structure's gonna collapse soon, and they won't dare chase us until it's safe to search the remains. Unless there's some sort of way out of here, we're dead in the water as soon as they find the trapdoor..." she warned, taking a moment to catch her breath before adding, "Can't see anything, can you?"

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos reached for his optical dial on his head and switched it to night vision mode. He was able to see that there was a tunnel of some sort, possibly made by the previous occupants.

 

"Our best bet is to follow this chasm that I assume was made by the previous occupants," Kronos told Foray, "I'm unsure as to whether or not this dark passageway is clear, but it's the only option we appear to have at the moment." He reached into his bag and managed to pull out a lantern. Luckily, it still had some oil in it to illuminate the tunnel. While the lantern was on, he looked around his immediate vicinity to search for alternate passageways, but with no avail. "Well, it's official, that dark alleyway is our only way away from here. You wanna hold the lantern? I don't think it'll burn for long."

Edited November 16, 2016 by Kronos the Revenant

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray nodded, grasping the lantern with her magic and guiding it down the tunnel a few feet in front of her. The tunnel wasn't very wide, just barely large enough for Kronos to squeeze through. The only sound, other than their own hoofsteps, were from the burning house and shooting raiders above ground, which were quickly fading as they moved forward.

 

The tunnel sloped downwards, heading deeper into the earth and farther from the surface.

 

After a few minutes of walking, Foray asked, "So ah, you good? No bullet holes or what not?"

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos searched his body after Foray asked him a question.

 

"Not any new ones," Kronos jokingly answered, "At least, no new bullet holes that are immediately apparent. I kind of have this habit of finding bullet holes hours, days even weeks after they've been inflicted, so, I'm not entirely sure."

 

He squeezed himself through the narrow passageway after Foray went through. As he struggled, he forced his body through, causing the narrow pass to widen to his size. After he went through, he stood still and silent for a moment, waiting to see whether or not he made a huge enough racket that it's audible to the surface. 

Edited November 18, 2016 by Kronos the Revenant

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

There didn't seem to be any disturbance of notice... at least, nothing that would have been much louder than the ruckus that was already taking place, which was getting quieter as they pressed on, the lantern dimly lighting their path.

 

Wish I knew some sort of illumination spell, Foray thought to herself. A fireball would work just as well, but I can't hold it for very long...

 

The passage continued forwards, sloping downwards slightly and taking them deeper into the earth. Foray remained silent for the most part as they ventured on.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos noticed how Foray was very silent as they ventured into the darkness. He understood why they were silent, however, since there were some enemies that were above them and some that were potentially in the darkness with them. Still, he was nearly being driven mad by the darkness combined with the dead silence between them.

 

To break the silence and retain his sanity, he whispered to Foray, "So, uhh, Foray, you know where we're going?"

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

"Of course," Foray responded sarcastically. "I've studied all of the underground tunnels in the Wasteland for several decades... this one leads to a Nuka-Cola bar and a bustling metropolis."

 

The tunnel eventually came to an end, leading the pair into a large room. The ceiling was far too high to see, and the lantern, which was nearing the end of its usefulness, couldn't illuminate the walls around them. Their steps and voices echoed loudly.

 

"Welp, that's it for the lantern," Foray muttered as the flame finally went out, again plunging them into darkness. "...Uh, anything in that big pack of what not that'll help?"

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Kronos rolled his eyes at Foray's sarcasm. He was tempted to call her a vulgar name in his head, but at the same time, she was right, it was yet another stupid question he asked which deserved a stupid response.

 

Upon hearing Foray's question, he reached into his bag of junk once again. He managed to find some containers that still had some oil in them. He emptied their liquid contents into the lantern and he re-lit the lantern then gave it back to Foray. He also noticed that their movement was echoing loudly in the place they were in, so he adjusted his servos to stealth mode, which drained his energy more quickly, but rendered his movement inaudible.

 

"Here," Kronos said while handing over the freshly filled lantern to Foray, "It's got some more oil in it."

[Meson Bolt 2,648]

Foray raised an eyebrow, watching as Kronos had easily found exactly what they needed from a pile of junk they'd collected, in pitch blackness, no less. Staring for a moment, she chuckled and shook her head gently.

 

So ah, he's heavy in the luck trait, I guess?

 

The unicorn accepted the lantern and began shining it around the room again. The floor was a shifty gravel bed, each of her steps making a loud crunching noise as she moved forward, alert. Despite her noise, she could easily hear the sounds of flowing water.

 

"I hear water..." she said quietly, her voice echoing loudly a few times, followed by several quieter times that puzzled Foray. She looked to Kronos for any input.