Floor 1, Room 111 The memory starts in a neat little house that looks like it could belong in Levittown or any other midcentury American suburb. The smell of freshly brewed coffee hangs in the air and the birds twitter in the trees outside. Despite the idyllic surroundings, though, the mood is sombre. Nora stands in a blue shirt and khaki trousers, hand over her mouth in shock. Next to her is a good looking man with a baby cradled into his arms, and a spherical robot with several skeletal appendages, hovering in mid-air. They stand transfixed as a news report unfolds on the television.
"...Followed by flashes, blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions. We're trying to get confirmation, we seem to have lost contact with our affiliated stations. We do have coming in confirmed reports, I repeat confirmed reports, of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. ...My God."
The broadcast ends abruptly, replaced with a message that simply reads, PLEASE STAND BY.
"We need to get to the Vault. Now!" Nora's panic is clear in her voice. She runs from the house, the man following close behind holding the baby close, the robot left behind.
Out in the street the sirens wail, neighbours cling to each other tightly. A Vertibird hovers overhead, an announcement blaring out from it: "Residents of Sanctuary Hills. If you are registered, evacuate to Vault 111 immediately." A man in military gear stands at the side of the street, waving them down a path. "Vault participants, this way!"
Nora keeps running, the man directly ahead of her with the baby in his arms. She doesn't look back at her home but continues forward, over a bridge shaded by trees displaying the bright fall foliage and up an incline until she comes to a wire mesh fence guarded by soldiers, some in full power armour with machine guns. One of the soldiers looks them over and confirms they're on his list, and Nora, the man and the child are herded through to a platform where several other residents of their neighbourhood stand, looking terrified.
"Almost there," Nora says to the man as she tries to get her breath back. "Is Shaun okay?"
"He's fine," he replies, glancing down at the baby. "We're going to be okay. I love you."
Suddenly there's a blinding flash of bright white light. Nora blinks a couple of times as the world swims back into view, watching in horror at the mushroom cloud that looms over their surroundings. Before she has time to take it in, the platform begins to lower into the Vault.
The world above them goes dark, replaced by walls, floor and a roof of steel. As Nora steps from the elevator, a man in a bright blue jumpsuit reassures her and the others in the group, welcoming them to their new home of Vault 111, where they will have "a better future underground." She follows his directions up the stairs and into the Vault, where she's given a jumpsuit of her own - a garment she will most definitely have been seen wearing around Wonderland. Then they're herded into another room, where a doctor in a white coat says they'll have access to the Vault itself once they've been through a medical screen.
Pods line the sides of the room, supposedly to decontaminate them of any radiation they picked up during the blast and depressurise them before they move further underground. As the man reassures her, saying he's right there, Nora steps into one. The door shuts tight, and she's suddenly hit with a blast of cold. Then, she passes out.
She comes round slowly. Her breath is slow and laboured, her hearing fuzzy to start with, her first thought that it's so cold. Behind the frosted glass, she sees two figures approach the pod opposite hers, the one holding the man and the baby boy. "This is the one, here."
The pod opens. She hears her baby cry. Suddenly one of the figures grabs for the baby, and when the man resists, the other shoots him. He slumps back in the pod, unresponsive. She's too numb with the shock to scream, too weak from the freezing cold to try and break out.
The baby is in the arms of one of the figures now. As they leave, the other walks over to her pod, peers in at her. "At least we still have the backup."
Before she can process what's going on, the temperature in the pod drops further again and she succumbs to it, passing out once more.
[ OOC: This got longer than I intended. You can watch the full scene here. Nora will spend a lot of time trying to alter it in many different ways, feel free to come into any part of it. ]
Nora | OTA
The memory starts in a neat little house that looks like it could belong in Levittown or any other midcentury American suburb. The smell of freshly brewed coffee hangs in the air and the birds twitter in the trees outside. Despite the idyllic surroundings, though, the mood is sombre. Nora stands in a blue shirt and khaki trousers, hand over her mouth in shock. Next to her is a good looking man with a baby cradled into his arms, and a spherical robot with several skeletal appendages, hovering in mid-air. They stand transfixed as a news report unfolds on the television.
"...Followed by flashes, blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions. We're trying to get confirmation, we seem to have lost contact with our affiliated stations. We do have coming in confirmed reports, I repeat confirmed reports, of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. ...My God."
The broadcast ends abruptly, replaced with a message that simply reads, PLEASE STAND BY.
"We need to get to the Vault. Now!" Nora's panic is clear in her voice. She runs from the house, the man following close behind holding the baby close, the robot left behind.
Out in the street the sirens wail, neighbours cling to each other tightly. A Vertibird hovers overhead, an announcement blaring out from it: "Residents of Sanctuary Hills. If you are registered, evacuate to Vault 111 immediately." A man in military gear stands at the side of the street, waving them down a path. "Vault participants, this way!"
Nora keeps running, the man directly ahead of her with the baby in his arms. She doesn't look back at her home but continues forward, over a bridge shaded by trees displaying the bright fall foliage and up an incline until she comes to a wire mesh fence guarded by soldiers, some in full power armour with machine guns. One of the soldiers looks them over and confirms they're on his list, and Nora, the man and the child are herded through to a platform where several other residents of their neighbourhood stand, looking terrified.
"Almost there," Nora says to the man as she tries to get her breath back. "Is Shaun okay?"
"He's fine," he replies, glancing down at the baby. "We're going to be okay. I love you."
Suddenly there's a blinding flash of bright white light. Nora blinks a couple of times as the world swims back into view, watching in horror at the mushroom cloud that looms over their surroundings. Before she has time to take it in, the platform begins to lower into the Vault.
The world above them goes dark, replaced by walls, floor and a roof of steel. As Nora steps from the elevator, a man in a bright blue jumpsuit reassures her and the others in the group, welcoming them to their new home of Vault 111, where they will have "a better future underground." She follows his directions up the stairs and into the Vault, where she's given a jumpsuit of her own - a garment she will most definitely have been seen wearing around Wonderland. Then they're herded into another room, where a doctor in a white coat says they'll have access to the Vault itself once they've been through a medical screen.
Pods line the sides of the room, supposedly to decontaminate them of any radiation they picked up during the blast and depressurise them before they move further underground. As the man reassures her, saying he's right there, Nora steps into one. The door shuts tight, and she's suddenly hit with a blast of cold. Then, she passes out.
She comes round slowly. Her breath is slow and laboured, her hearing fuzzy to start with, her first thought that it's so cold. Behind the frosted glass, she sees two figures approach the pod opposite hers, the one holding the man and the baby boy. "This is the one, here."
The pod opens. She hears her baby cry. Suddenly one of the figures grabs for the baby, and when the man resists, the other shoots him. He slumps back in the pod, unresponsive. She's too numb with the shock to scream, too weak from the freezing cold to try and break out.
The baby is in the arms of one of the figures now. As they leave, the other walks over to her pod, peers in at her. "At least we still have the backup."
Before she can process what's going on, the temperature in the pod drops further again and she succumbs to it, passing out once more.
[ OOC: This got longer than I intended. You can watch the full scene here. Nora will spend a lot of time trying to alter it in many different ways, feel free to come into any part of it. ]