knightsndazeart

[knightsndazeart]

One of the best parts about working at a sex shop is the employee discount, and yeah that means excellent deals on sex supplies but that’s not the big brain part.

You come to my house. Something is cooking in the kitchen- it smells wonderful. What is it? It’s novelty dick-shaped pasta. I’ve set up a sensual sexy Italian dinner. There are candles set up on the table. They’re melting too fast, dripping everywhere- they’re low temp waxplay pillar candles. For dessert, I serve you a delicious ice cream topped in penis-shaped rainbow confetti sprinkles and strawberry body paint drizzle, and afterwards, serve coffee with roasted hazelnut warming lube.

We play a board game while we drink. It’s sexy monopoly. It’s your turn. You roll the dice. They come up as ‘whisper into’ and ‘butt’. I lost the original dice. We’re using the sexy dice. You move four spaces.

After dinner, I run you a bath. A bubble bath. The bubble gel? Sensual ocean breeze. There are candles lined up around the tub. The scent is overpowering. Why? They’re three-in-one fruit flavored massage oil candles. I’m using so much. It’s so wasteful. Do you want to shave? I have conditioning shave cream that smells like limes. And an electric body razor, but you can’t use that in the tub.

How about a bath bomb? You toss one in. It’s cherry blossom scented. As it dissolves, three sexy bath sex suggestion cards fall out. They’re all variations on doggy style, probably because fucking in a bathtub is probably the easiest way to break your hip.

The water cools. You get out an dry off with a novelty towel. If you wrap it around your chest, it looks like you have gigantic tatas bursting through the fabric like the Hulk.

You walk into the bedroom. I’m there, reading an instructional book titled “The Housewife’s Guide To Every Day Stripping”. I’m wearing a neck pillow designed to look like a massive curved weiner. Also a pair of fake leather bondage leggings and an oversized men’s christmas T-shirt that says “Jingle My Bells” across the front.

I see you come in. I put down the book, take off the pillow. Offer you a massage. You accept. I already burned up all the massage candles so I pop a new bottle of CBD massage oil that says something wrong about Chakras on it. It’s very gritty. That’s because there’s little chunks of amethyst in it for some fucking reason. It’s fine, though. You say you don’t mind.

I don’t do massages very often. It’s bad. You end up more tense than before. One of your muscles starts to cramp- it’s okay. I whip out a bottle of Lidocane topical masculine performance numbing spray. You immediately feel like your shoulder went to the dentist. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than cramping.

You’re not in the mood to bone after that. Which is good, cause I’m actually pretty asexual, but it hasn’t come up yet so I’m relieved to avoid the conversation. Instead we get ready for bed. (The weather is terrible, and I insist you stay over.) I set up the futon, then realize it smells like cigarettes from the previous owner and shyly ask if you wanna cuddle in my room. You’re down.

I crawl under the covers, placing my penis-shaped pink glitter pride bottle on the side table in case one of us wakes up thirsty. Once you’re settled in, I turn off the glowing bare ass night light and the room goes black.

It takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust, but when they do, you look up at the ceiling. It’s dotted all over with little green flourescent lights. Are they plastic stars? No. I’ve pinned up a thousand glow in the dark condoms. God bless

[knightsndazeart]

I'm having a lot of fun working on this map :) I do still have to add the vaults and fix the little icons

Any questions about what's going on in the Lonestar wasteland can be directed to @wastelandrambler <3

[knightsndazeart]

After The Flash

Quick note from the author, this is my first fic I've put out there since I was 11. I dabble in writing my own works sometimes just for myself but I've been growing increasingly frustrated with the story of fallout 4 and its many, many holes. If this intro piques your interest, I beg you to bear with me cause I plan on making quite a lot of changes. Also updates will likely be sporadic as I've debilitating ADHD.

Introduction

Summary: Sanctuary Hills touted as an idyllic suburb in the heart of America is just a plastic facade. Paige knows it. Her neighbors know it. Vault-Tec knows it. What they don't know is that that facade is about to shatter and everything will change.

Friday

October 22, 2077

Paige slumped over her couch. She could hear her neighbors' festivities just outside. It was Mr. Wilkes’ 57th birthday and his wife had surprised him with a mid-October barbecue. The TV was playing a rerun of some Vault-Tec sponsored show. Incidentally, they were the company that funded her neighborhood. A small cul-de-sac just outside Concord called Sanctuary Hills. She had been offered a modest home through a military contract; Vault-Tec “housing our proud vets”.

A knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts and she drug herself off the couch. On her stoop stood a dark haired woman in a teal dress. She held a cooing baby in her arms.  

            “Nora, I already told you. I really don't feel like bein' around people.”

            Nora beamed at her, “C’mon, Paige. You can spend the whole time with us if it'll help. Logan was asking about you.”

            “You know he and I aren't like that.” Paige scoffed at her teasing tone. “But if it'll get you off my back, I'll come have a hotdog.”

            Nora led her to the Wilkes’ yard where they had a couple picnic tables set up. The men gathered around Mr. Wilkes' brand new grill. The women were chatting around a table. The Wilkes were actually the only older couple in the neighborhood. All of the other residents were young couples just starting their families.

            “I just have a bad feeling about that vault, Janice.” One of the women declared as they approached. “I mean, have you heard how that company treats their employees?”

            “That company, Wendy, gave you your home, remember? Besides, those are just rumors spread by the commies. Without companies like Vault-Tec we wouldn't have jobs, then we'd all be starving in the streets.”

            Wendy huffed and sat back in her chair. Paige couldn't blame her, she had an idea of what Vault-Tec had planned for one-eleven. Still she signed up when their representative came to her door. Despite her rational side, anxiety had won that fight. 

            “Ladies, it's a party. Let's not focus on doom and gloom here,” Nora spoke, ever the peacekeeper. “I'll be right back, the little guy needs his nap.”

            Paige sat in an empty spot. The conversation shifted now to lighter topics. Mostly celebrity gossip. The tension in the air fully dissipated with her sisters words. Nora always has a knack for people. Which seemed to come in handy in court. A hand appeared next to Paige, offering a plastic cup of red liquid. She looked up at the man attached to said hand and was met with soft brown eyes. 

            “Your sister asked me to bring you this.” He smiled at her then leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable you look, wanna go for a walk?”

            She accepted the drink and whispered back, "I'm just out here for a few minutes, Logan."

            “C’mon, I know you’re itchy just sitting here listening to them talk about Shannon Rivers’ meltdown.” She watched him reach into his pocket to show off a flask stashed in it. “Got somethin’ for your troubles.”

            "I guess my troubles could use a little soothing.”

            A couple of the women murmured about them as they wandered off. No doubt they moved onto talking neighborhood drama now. Once they got to the beginning of the trail leading to the vault, Logan stopped to open his flask. He poured some into her cup before bringing it to his lips. She watched as his shoulders visibly relaxed. Then Paige took a sip of her own drink. The sharp taste of rum hit her first and she coughed a little.

            “I can't stand it here, you know. Everyone acts like everything is fine but people are dying while we sit on our asses playing suburbia.”

            “Yeah.” Paige wasn't sure how to respond. He was right of course. Soldiers were being thrown at the war effort on the front lines. While at home food and power shortages plagued the country. Not to mention the actual plague. “What can we do though? The best option at this point is to nuke it all and start over.”

            “That's not funny, Paige.” Logan shot her a look.

            The chain link fence surrounding vault one-eleven was rather plain for what it protected. Two men guarded the entrance, one of them clad in a full suit of power armor. Wanting to avoid a confrontation, Paige and Logan walked around the site towards the hill overlooking the vault and neighborhood. They had finished the underground structure one week prior and thrown a party for the residents of Sanctuary Hills to get them to sign up for their spot. However there were still strewn bits of construction debris.

            They sat by a tree atop the hill. Below them was a large, circular concrete platform. Three ones were painted on the center in yellow. The entrance to the vault. Logan rested his head on Paige’s shoulder. 

            “Y’know sometimes you remind me too much of Milo.” His words were starting to slur a bit. “I miss him.”

            “How did y’all meet again?”

            “It was at a dance hall in Brighton...” he started. She’d heard it about a dozen times at this point, but telling the story always seemed to cheer him up when he was like this. They were each dancing with a girl when their eyes met. Logan's breath got caught in his throat and as soon as the dance was over he excused himself to go outside. Milo had followed him, offered him a cigarette and that was it. The way he told it, though, you would think Milo was an angel sent from heaven.

            Paige had met them both in basic. Milo and her got along like a house on fire, and Logan didn't mind being a part of the ride. They were in the same platoon on the front and went through the worst of it together. After all of it Milo was different, he stopped talking about how he was defending his country. Once they returned home he was investigated by the UAF for communist activity. They were all questioned in connection with him but he was the only one found guilty. It wasn't clear what he was even guilty of. She reached for Logan's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 

            Eventually the sun went down and they walked back to the cul-de-sac. Nora gave her a knowing smile when she saw them but Paige just rolled her eyes. There were moments where she just wanted to tell her sister the truth just to get her off her back. But she knew what could happen to Logan if something like that got out. She couldn't lose him as well.

            “Hey, you wanna come in for a bit?” He offered when they reached his house. “I’d rather not be alone tonight.”

            She nodded and followed him inside. They spent the rest of the night drinking in memory of their friend.

            Paige woke to a white tiled ceiling and a raging headache. A warm arm wrapped around her waist squeezed her closer. This was probably a once a week occurrence where she found herself waking up in his bed. He needed something to hold onto that reminded him of happier memories and she didn't mind being that something. The radio played softly, some old song about rain falling.

            Logan groaned and his grip loosened, allowing her to sit up.

            “Mornin’, You feeling alright?” She smoothed his hair down some. 

            “I feel dead. Am I dead?”

            “No,” Paige snorted. “Just hung over.”

            Suddenly a high pitched tone interrupted the soft music. It was followed by the radio DJ nervously speaking, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have terrible news. We're tuning into GNN right now.”

            “We do have, coming in, confirmed reports,” the newscaster paused. “I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania.”

            “Did he just say-”

            “No, that can't be right.”

            “We urge you to get to safety as soon as possible. Get to your-”

            The sound of static filled the air.

            “We have to get to the vault.” 

            Paige scrambled to get up. Logan followed her. Nate and Nora were passing by as they fled Logan's house. Nate held their son against his chest. They ran up the path they took yesterday. This time the gate was open, a man with a clipboard was arguing with one of the construction workers. The soldier in power armor aimed his minigun and started warming it up. The worker threw his hands up as if to shield himself and backed off.

            “We need to get in, we're on the list.” Nora spoke quickly. 

            They were checked off and led up to the circular platform. A group of their neighbors gathered in the center. The moment they stepped on it an alarm sounded and the platform began descending. When they were far enough down a thick door slid over the opening above them blocking out the sun. Paige wondered if she'd ever see it again. Around them the elevator lurched once followed by a deafening noise from above. But the door stood strong. Logan reached for her hand and gripped it tight. 

It took nearly fifteen minutes for the platform to reach the bottom. The room was entirely concrete. On the left was a set of metal stairs leading up to a platform. A man stood in front of the elevator announced himself as the ‘overseer’ and began issuing instructions. Paige barely registered her friend's grip on her hand leading her up the stairs. One of the white coats handed them each identical blue jumpsuits embellished with the yellow number 111 on the back. He then led them through a hall and into a room lined with pods of some sort. Logan was ushered into the first room of pods. He gave Paige’s hand a squeeze that mimicked hers from the night before before letting go. She didn’t register the researcher's words as he spoke about the vault, only able to focus on the sound of the child in Nate’s arms crying out.

“Shh, it’s okay, Shaun, mama’s not going far. I’ll just be over here.”

“Ma’am, you’ll need to change into your vault suit before you get into your pod,” the man said to Paige.

She responded with a nod and began to undress. Once changed she climbed into the last pod, next to Nora’s, and the door hissed shut as soon as she settled inside. The man explained how the pods were supposed to decontaminate and depressurize them.

“Resident secure. Occupant vitals normal. Procedure complete in five." A robotic voice spoke through a speaker in the pod.

A rush of cold surrounded Paige.

“Four.”

She felt panic welling up in her chest as the situation finally hit her.

“Three.”

The window on the pod began to frost over.

“Two.”

The countdown never reached one.

When the window defrosted it felt only as if a few seconds passed. The only thing she could see was the pod across from her. Paige felt confused. She couldn't remember where she was. Footsteps approached nearby, stopping by a different pod.

“This is the one here,” a woman said.

“Open it,” a man this time, his voice deep and gruff.

A hiss as the door opened, then the sound of a baby crying. Shaun.

“Is it over?” Nora hesitantly questioned.

“Almost. Everything’s going to be fine. We need to take your child for a quick moment.” The woman explained. “We just need to do a weigh-in for him, make sure our records are up to date.”

“Wait, what happened to the other guy?” Nate questioned. 

            “He has other duties to attend to. Just give us the child so we can help him.”

            “Uh, right. Just don't take him too far.”

            “Of course, he's safe with us.”

Something felt off, Paige recognized the feeling of nausea that followed cryostasis. It was something they could never work out. But in her state she was too slow to react, the glass window froze over again.

The second time the glass defrosted, Paige reached for the emergency release immediately. She fell to the floor coughing. Emergency lights flashed around her and an alarm blared over the speakers causing her head to spin. She stayed like that until the feeling subsided. As soon as she could stand, Paige went straight for the lever to release Nora.

A robotic voice warned her to stand back as the pod opened. Nora fell forward into her arms. She held her sister as she heaved.

            “Somethings gone wrong, I think. Vault-Tec definitely lied to us.”

            Nora barely acknowledged her, instead stumbling to Nate's pod. She grasped desperately at the door. Paige gently pulled her back and tried his release lever. 

            “Pod release malfunction.”

            “What does that mean?” Nora looked at her hopelessly. “Paige, what does that mean?”

            “Nora, I'm sorry-” The woman let out a choked sob and fell to the floor. Paige held her again as she wailed. Around them two more pods hissed as they released their occupants. She looked behind her to see Janice and her husband, Michael, both on the floor heaving.

            “Is it over?” Micheal spoke first. 

            “Somethin' like that.” Paige responded, then quietly to her sister. “Hey honey, I need you to get it together. We need to find Shaun and get out of here, alright? Then you can have all the time you need.”

            Nora sniffled and nodded. Paige went straight to the computer by the door. It had three options on screen to choose from. Cryogenic Array and Life Support led to similar messages.

Network Incomplete.

Limited power resulting in partial system failure.

            Pod Occupant Status led to a new set of options with the names of each pod's occupant. She checked the status of everyone that hadn't yet emerged from their pod. Each one having the same status

Occupant Status: Deceased.

Cause of Death: Asphyxiation due to life support failure. 

            “We need to get out of here, y'all. There’s another room of pods. There might be more survivors.”

            Michael and Paige led the other two down the hall. In the other room, three other people had emerged. Wendy and another woman by the name of Gina. Paige’s chest tightened when the man talking to the women turned and it wasn't Logan. It took everything in her not to tear into each pod to look for him. After having just held strong for her sister, she couldn't break down on her now. She had to get them out of there. 

Deacon sat perched on his lookout over vault one-eleven, his heart still pounding in his chest. He balanced his scoped rifle on the short wall in front of him as he popped open a Nuka-Cola. He had been up there a few days after a mission had left him with a few cracked ribs and a sore jaw.

Carrington, the Railroads doctor and his personal pain-in-the-ass, had ordered him to stay in headquarters to heal, but Deacon couldn’t stand being cooped up. Ever since Herkimer went down there’s been a tense atmosphere that no one wants to acknowledge. So Deacon decided he’d use his ‘vacation’ to do some reconnaissance instead of suffering in silence with everyone else.

The vault he watched over wasn’t particularly interesting, aside from some rumors the ‘Big Bad’ Institute got into it some time ago. The trail had long gone cold by the time they had caught wind of the escapade and Deacon took it upon himself to keep an eye on one-eleven whenever he got the chance. He’d never gotten the courage to go inside. At least not until today when his curiosity got the better of him.

While down there he found a couple dozen strange pods, each containing a person. He also accidentally tripped the emergency release in the overseers office. He had tripped over a skeleton, the overseers presumably, and landed on the vault control panel.

Deacon was pulled from his thoughts as the vault alarm started up and the platform keeping it sealed began to descend. He placed his half drunk cola on the table to more easily peer down his scope.

It took almost half an hour for the platform to return to the surface. Deacon shifted in his seat, focusing on the people huddled in the middle. Four women and two men. They wore the typical vault suits, too clean to have ever stepped foot in the wasteland. He swore at himself for not checking who was in which pod. Knowing their names might've been useful. One of the women caught his attention, she looked familiar to him but he couldn't place it. Her wavy auburn hair reached her shoulders and she looked to be the shortest of the vault dwellers. Everything about the way she held herself screamed trouble.

Deacon grinned, he could work with trouble.

[knightsndazeart]

After The Flash

Quick note from the author, this is my first fic I've put out there since I was 11. I dabble in writing my own works sometimes just for myself but I've been growing increasingly frustrated with the story of fallout 4 and its many, many holes. If this intro piques your interest, I beg you to bear with me cause I plan on making quite a lot of changes. Also updates will likely be sporadic as I've debilitating ADHD.

Introduction

Summary: Sanctuary Hills touted as an idyllic suburb in the heart of America is just a plastic facade. Paige knows it. Her neighbors know it. Vault-Tec knows it. What they don't know is that that facade is about to shatter and everything will change.

Friday

October 22, 2077

Paige slumped over her couch. She could hear her neighbors' festivities just outside. It was Mr. Wilkes’ 57th birthday and his wife had surprised him with a mid-October barbecue. The TV was playing a rerun of some Vault-Tec sponsored show. Incidentally, they were the company that funded her neighborhood. A small cul-de-sac just outside Concord called Sanctuary Hills. She had been offered a modest home through a military contract; Vault-Tec “housing our proud vets”.

A knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts and she drug herself off the couch. On her stoop stood a dark haired woman in a teal dress. She held a cooing baby in her arms.  

            “Nora, I already told you. I really don't feel like bein' around people.”

            Nora beamed at her, “C’mon, Paige. You can spend the whole time with us if it'll help. Logan was asking about you.”

            “You know he and I aren't like that.” Paige scoffed at her teasing tone. “But if it'll get you off my back, I'll come have a hotdog.”

            Nora led her to the Wilkes’ yard where they had a couple picnic tables set up. The men gathered around Mr. Wilkes' brand new grill. The women were chatting around a table. The Wilkes were actually the only older couple in the neighborhood. All of the other residents were young couples just starting their families.

            “I just have a bad feeling about that vault, Janice.” One of the women declared as they approached. “I mean, have you heard how that company treats their employees?”

            “That company, Wendy, gave you your home, remember? Besides, those are just rumors spread by the commies. Without companies like Vault-Tec we wouldn't have jobs, then we'd all be starving in the streets.”

            Wendy huffed and sat back in her chair. Paige couldn't blame her, she had an idea of what Vault-Tec had planned for one-eleven. Still she signed up when their representative came to her door. Despite her rational side, anxiety had won that fight. 

            “Ladies, it's a party. Let's not focus on doom and gloom here,” Nora spoke, ever the peacekeeper. “I'll be right back, the little guy needs his nap.”

            Paige sat in an empty spot. The conversation shifted now to lighter topics. Mostly celebrity gossip. The tension in the air fully dissipated with her sisters words. Nora always has a knack for people. Which seemed to come in handy in court. A hand appeared next to Paige, offering a plastic cup of red liquid. She looked up at the man attached to said hand and was met with soft brown eyes. 

            “Your sister asked me to bring you this.” He smiled at her then leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable you look, wanna go for a walk?”

            She accepted the drink and whispered back, "I'm just out here for a few minutes, Logan."

            “C’mon, I know you’re itchy just sitting here listening to them talk about Shannon Rivers’ meltdown.” She watched him reach into his pocket to show off a flask stashed in it. “Got somethin’ for your troubles.”

            "I guess my troubles could use a little soothing.”

            A couple of the women murmured about them as they wandered off. No doubt they moved onto talking neighborhood drama now. Once they got to the beginning of the trail leading to the vault, Logan stopped to open his flask. He poured some into her cup before bringing it to his lips. She watched as his shoulders visibly relaxed. Then Paige took a sip of her own drink. The sharp taste of rum hit her first and she coughed a little.

            “I can't stand it here, you know. Everyone acts like everything is fine but people are dying while we sit on our asses playing suburbia.”

            “Yeah.” Paige wasn't sure how to respond. He was right of course. Soldiers were being thrown at the war effort on the front lines. While at home food and power shortages plagued the country. Not to mention the actual plague. “What can we do though? The best option at this point is to nuke it all and start over.”

            “That's not funny, Paige.” Logan shot her a look.

            The chain link fence surrounding vault one-eleven was rather plain for what it protected. Two men guarded the entrance, one of them clad in a full suit of power armor. Wanting to avoid a confrontation, Paige and Logan walked around the site towards the hill overlooking the vault and neighborhood. They had finished the underground structure one week prior and thrown a party for the residents of Sanctuary Hills to get them to sign up for their spot. However there were still strewn bits of construction debris.

            They sat by a tree atop the hill. Below them was a large, circular concrete platform. Three ones were painted on the center in yellow. The entrance to the vault. Logan rested his head on Paige’s shoulder. 

            “Y’know sometimes you remind me too much of Milo.” His words were starting to slur a bit. “I miss him.”

            “How did y’all meet again?”

            “It was at a dance hall in Brighton...” he started. She’d heard it about a dozen times at this point, but telling the story always seemed to cheer him up when he was like this. They were each dancing with a girl when their eyes met. Logan's breath got caught in his throat and as soon as the dance was over he excused himself to go outside. Milo had followed him, offered him a cigarette and that was it. The way he told it, though, you would think Milo was an angel sent from heaven.

            Paige had met them both in basic. Milo and her got along like a house on fire, and Logan didn't mind being a part of the ride. They were in the same platoon on the front and went through the worst of it together. After all of it Milo was different, he stopped talking about how he was defending his country. Once they returned home he was investigated by the UAF for communist activity. They were all questioned in connection with him but he was the only one found guilty. It wasn't clear what he was even guilty of. She reached for Logan's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 

            Eventually the sun went down and they walked back to the cul-de-sac. Nora gave her a knowing smile when she saw them but Paige just rolled her eyes. There were moments where she just wanted to tell her sister the truth just to get her off her back. But she knew what could happen to Logan if something like that got out. She couldn't lose him as well.

            “Hey, you wanna come in for a bit?” He offered when they reached his house. “I’d rather not be alone tonight.”

            She nodded and followed him inside. They spent the rest of the night drinking in memory of their friend.

            Paige woke to a white tiled ceiling and a raging headache. A warm arm wrapped around her waist squeezed her closer. This was probably a once a week occurrence where she found herself waking up in his bed. He needed something to hold onto that reminded him of happier memories and she didn't mind being that something. The radio played softly, some old song about rain falling.

            Logan groaned and his grip loosened, allowing her to sit up.

            “Mornin’, You feeling alright?” She smoothed his hair down some. 

            “I feel dead. Am I dead?”

            “No,” Paige snorted. “Just hung over.”

            Suddenly a high pitched tone interrupted the soft music. It was followed by the radio DJ nervously speaking, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have terrible news. We're tuning into GNN right now.”

            “We do have, coming in, confirmed reports,” the newscaster paused. “I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania.”

            “Did he just say-”

            “No, that can't be right.”

            “We urge you to get to safety as soon as possible. Get to your-”

            The sound of static filled the air.

            “We have to get to the vault.” 

            Paige scrambled to get up. Logan followed her. Nate and Nora were passing by as they fled Logan's house. Nate held their son against his chest. They ran up the path they took yesterday. This time the gate was open, a man with a clipboard was arguing with one of the construction workers. The soldier in power armor aimed his minigun and started warming it up. The worker threw his hands up as if to shield himself and backed off.

            “We need to get in, we're on the list.” Nora spoke quickly. 

            They were checked off and led up to the circular platform. A group of their neighbors gathered in the center. The moment they stepped on it an alarm sounded and the platform began descending. When they were far enough down a thick door slid over the opening above them blocking out the sun. Paige wondered if she'd ever see it again. Around them the elevator lurched once followed by a deafening noise from above. But the door stood strong. Logan reached for her hand and gripped it tight. 

It took nearly fifteen minutes for the platform to reach the bottom. The room was entirely concrete. On the left was a set of metal stairs leading up to a platform. A man stood in front of the elevator announced himself as the ‘overseer’ and began issuing instructions. Paige barely registered her friend's grip on her hand leading her up the stairs. One of the white coats handed them each identical blue jumpsuits embellished with the yellow number 111 on the back. He then led them through a hall and into a room lined with pods of some sort. Logan was ushered into the first room of pods. He gave Paige’s hand a squeeze that mimicked hers from the night before before letting go. She didn’t register the researcher's words as he spoke about the vault, only able to focus on the sound of the child in Nate’s arms crying out.

“Shh, it’s okay, Shaun, mama’s not going far. I’ll just be over here.”

“Ma’am, you’ll need to change into your vault suit before you get into your pod,” the man said to Paige.

She responded with a nod and began to undress. Once changed she climbed into the last pod, next to Nora’s, and the door hissed shut as soon as she settled inside. The man explained how the pods were supposed to decontaminate and depressurize them.

“Resident secure. Occupant vitals normal. Procedure complete in five." A robotic voice spoke through a speaker in the pod.

A rush of cold surrounded Paige.

“Four.”

She felt panic welling up in her chest as the situation finally hit her.

“Three.”

The window on the pod began to frost over.

“Two.”

The countdown never reached one.

When the window defrosted it felt only as if a few seconds passed. The only thing she could see was the pod across from her. Paige felt confused. She couldn't remember where she was. Footsteps approached nearby, stopping by a different pod.

“This is the one here,” a woman said.

“Open it,” a man this time, his voice deep and gruff.

A hiss as the door opened, then the sound of a baby crying. Shaun.

“Is it over?” Nora hesitantly questioned.

“Almost. Everything’s going to be fine. We need to take your child for a quick moment.” The woman explained. “We just need to do a weigh-in for him, make sure our records are up to date.”

“Wait, what happened to the other guy?” Nate questioned. 

            “He has other duties to attend to. Just give us the child so we can help him.”

            “Uh, right. Just don't take him too far.”

            “Of course, he's safe with us.”

Something felt off, Paige recognized the feeling of nausea that followed cryostasis. It was something they could never work out. But in her state she was too slow to react, the glass window froze over again.

The second time the glass defrosted, Paige reached for the emergency release immediately. She fell to the floor coughing. Emergency lights flashed around her and an alarm blared over the speakers causing her head to spin. She stayed like that until the feeling subsided. As soon as she could stand, Paige went straight for the lever to release Nora.

A robotic voice warned her to stand back as the pod opened. Nora fell forward into her arms. She held her sister as she heaved.

            “Somethings gone wrong, I think. Vault-Tec definitely lied to us.”

            Nora barely acknowledged her, instead stumbling to Nate's pod. She grasped desperately at the door. Paige gently pulled her back and tried his release lever. 

            “Pod release malfunction.”

            “What does that mean?” Nora looked at her hopelessly. “Paige, what does that mean?”

            “Nora, I'm sorry-” The woman let out a choked sob and fell to the floor. Paige held her again as she wailed. Around them two more pods hissed as they released their occupants. She looked behind her to see Janice and her husband, Michael, both on the floor heaving.

            “Is it over?” Micheal spoke first. 

            “Somethin' like that.” Paige responded, then quietly to her sister. “Hey honey, I need you to get it together. We need to find Shaun and get out of here, alright? Then you can have all the time you need.”

            Nora sniffled and nodded. Paige went straight to the computer by the door. It had three options on screen to choose from. Cryogenic Array and Life Support led to similar messages.

Network Incomplete.

Limited power resulting in partial system failure.

            Pod Occupant Status led to a new set of options with the names of each pod's occupant. She checked the status of everyone that hadn't yet emerged from their pod. Each one having the same status

Occupant Status: Deceased.

Cause of Death: Asphyxiation due to life support failure. 

            “We need to get out of here, y'all. There’s another room of pods. There might be more survivors.”

            Michael and Paige led the other two down the hall. In the other room, three other people had emerged. Wendy and another woman by the name of Gina. Paige’s chest tightened when the man talking to the women turned and it wasn't Logan. It took everything in her not to tear into each pod to look for him. After having just held strong for her sister, she couldn't break down on her now. She had to get them out of there. 

Deacon sat perched on his lookout over vault one-eleven, his heart still pounding in his chest. He balanced his scoped rifle on the short wall in front of him as he popped open a Nuka-Cola. He had been up there a few days after a mission had left him with a few cracked ribs and a sore jaw.

Carrington, the Railroads doctor and his personal pain-in-the-ass, had ordered him to stay in headquarters to heal, but Deacon couldn’t stand being cooped up. Ever since Herkimer went down there’s been a tense atmosphere that no one wants to acknowledge. So Deacon decided he’d use his ‘vacation’ to do some reconnaissance instead of suffering in silence with everyone else.

The vault he watched over wasn’t particularly interesting, aside from some rumors the ‘Big Bad’ Institute got into it some time ago. The trail had long gone cold by the time they had caught wind of the escapade and Deacon took it upon himself to keep an eye on one-eleven whenever he got the chance. He’d never gotten the courage to go inside. At least not until today when his curiosity got the better of him.

While down there he found a couple dozen strange pods, each containing a person. He also accidentally tripped the emergency release in the overseers office. He had tripped over a skeleton, the overseers presumably, and landed on the vault control panel.

Deacon was pulled from his thoughts as the vault alarm started up and the platform keeping it sealed began to descend. He placed his half drunk cola on the table to more easily peer down his scope.

It took almost half an hour for the platform to return to the surface. Deacon shifted in his seat, focusing on the people huddled in the middle. Four women and two men. They wore the typical vault suits, too clean to have ever stepped foot in the wasteland. He swore at himself for not checking who was in which pod. Knowing their names might've been useful. One of the women caught his attention, she looked familiar to him but he couldn't place it. Her wavy auburn hair reached her shoulders and she looked to be the shortest of the vault dwellers. Everything about the way she held herself screamed trouble.

Deacon grinned, he could work with trouble.

[knightsndazeart]

"actively hungry" + "none of the foods sound good at all" is one of the worst combinations. who let this happen

[knightsndazeart]

It's been so long since I've posted art here but I'm creating again so here we go

[knightsndazeart]

truly the end goal is not "my close friends aren't annoyed by me and it's all in my head, they're my friends and they love me", it's "sometimes I do annoy my close friends, just as the people I love most will also annoy me sometimes, because this is normal, and we will continue to stay friends, and they're not going to want to immediately cut me out of their life if I do something annoying once in a while"

[knightsndazeart]

I feel cheated. no one on Reddit told me that tumblr is a serotonin factory. Keep liking and reblogging my posts please thanks

[knightsndazeart]

"post without tags?" OH IM FUCKING SORRY #BEES #9/11

[knightsndazeart]

[knightsndazeart]

the catholic old white guy asked me to explain lgbtq+ to him and it was honestly kind of funny

[knightsndazeart]

when youre about to get a hot take from the local news comments section:

[knightsndazeart]

girls go to college to get more knowledge. men go to svalbard to die in the polar night.

[knightsndazeart]

rocky horror is the worst and is also transmisogynistic can we please finally get over this shit movie

[knightsndazeart]

the weird little girl to strange little man pipeline