Fallout: Part 4: Bar hopping
I started writing this part after I posted part 1, but before I got any feedback or comments. I think I will go through with this whole thing now actually. I haven't exactly planned out any storyline, so I'm open to suggestions. This chapter I'm just going to start typing and see where it goes from there. David's going to spend a little more time in megatown firstly. But I'll see how things go. Maybe starting with some more creepy italic things
The wind wHipsss acrosss ssand, the moon castsss an eirie glow over land and ssea, a ssshadow crossesss the moon you thInk but no, they aRe Deceptive, an eclipssse you thinkss but I knowss different LIES! All lies! It iss an ilusssion to hide the truth...
David slid back the covers on his bed with a groan. He swung his legs over the side of his bed so they rested on the floor. He was thinking about Shawna's offer last night to show him her tail. Though she had followed through with her offer, it seemed to involve less sex and nudity than he had anticipated. None. At all. She had managed to show him her tail without him seeing anything else, despite what she had said the previous day. She had managed to find a pair of slacks designed for a tail to hang out at the back without showing anything else. It still fascinated him however.
David had made it his goal today to find out something about his dad, who he knew had come through here. So far he had just gone with the flow. David got dressed into his white suit again and headed to the door. David grabbed the knob and twisted it as he pushed. It didn't budge. Checking if it was locked he tried again. His hand slid right around it. Knowing it was a stiff doorknob, David gripped it as tightly as he could. He felt a sharp pain in his hand and let go.
"What the fuck?" He looked around the room but found nothing that could offer assistance. "Hey Shawna!" He yelled. He waited a few moments before Shawna opened the door.
"Yeah? Why all the hollerin?"
"Does this feel stiff to you?" He asked pointing at the doorknob. Shawna looked confused at him for a second before twisting the doorknob with relative ease.
"Nah, what you talkin' bout?" She asked as David tried, and failed to twist the doorknob.
"Fuck! I can't grab it tightly!" David tried to clench his fist, but only got halfway there before pain shot through his hand.
"F'get bout it, should wear off soon enough. Hey, I was thinking we could go browse the shops fer a while, y'know, with all that money you got." She said with a smile. David shrugged. "I guess it couldn't hurt." David figured he could go between the shops and some bars maybe looking for information on his dad. "Let's go then." As Shawna turned away to go to her room, David saw she had her tail hanging out behind her. David turned away trying not to look. For some reason he had some odd fascination with her tail, weird. He watched as it swished from side to side almost hypnotically.
David and Shawna headed into town. There was a large amount of commotion about the events yesterday with Danzig, but the town's police denied any knowledge of the incident and just answered 'no comment.' The two walked from shop to shop talking. David occasionally visited a bar and tried to get some information on his dad, but the general response was 'No, now are you going to have a drink or not?' Or variations of that. At one shop David managed to acquire an immaculate Chinese pre-war sword and sheath for 200 caps. Shawna and David emerged from one shop to a surprising scene. The whole road was silent. There were occasional frantic whispers that were quickly shushed, but other than that nothing. The crowd parted as a velvet clad feline emerged, flanked by a dozen mean guards, and strolled down the street. It seemed to look at the crowd around it with a look of disgust. A look that said 'I despise you filthy dogs.' The feline looked at David with a little curiosity but quickly turned away before heading down the street, obviously too important to converse with commoners. "That's the Rise city ambassador." She told David. "Stupid pompous skank." She muttered.
"Rise city? David asked.
"Yeah, it's this huge port full of ships and stuff. The cats live there." She answered. "Fucking kitties." David instantly thought: Rivet city. Shawna looked down the road.
"Hey, I'm going to go shopping for a bit, you should go visit that bar down there." She said pointing down the road.
"Hey what gives, why can't I come with you?" He asked, confused. Shawna usually enjoyed being around him.
"Because you can't." She said.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't come with you. He said with a smile.
"Alright then." Shawna said. "I'm going to buy some lingerie." She said smiling back. David thought for a second.
"I said shouldn't. He said maintaining a smile. Shawna smiled back and shook her head before heading into a nearby shop.
"Crap, why did I say that for?" David asked himself. "She's just going to tease me more now." David entered the bar and was instantly overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol. David strolled up to the counter where the bartender was cleaning some glasses out. Jingling some caps in his pocket he said:
"I'm looking for a guy. Like me but older. Name could be James, or something with similar lettering." The bartender looked up at David with a look that said 'I don't care, go away.'
"Have you tried askin at Murphies?" He asked. A couple of the nearer people stopped talking and looked at him.
"Where's that? David asked.
"Just head into south district." The bartender said going back to his glass cleaning. David tossed a couple of caps on the counter and left as eyes trailed him out the door. David got the impression that the south district wasn't the most pleasant of places. He told Shawna where he was going and headed off.
David could tell when he was getting deeper into south district. There were less and less humans, and more and more gueno people and other nasty beings. Eventually he was lost. Rickety buildings were all around him a and unfriendly locals gave him mean looks as he passed by. He had to ask somebody. He figured there was about a 25% chance of getting ignored, 15% chance of an answer, 50% chance of a fight, and 10% chance of getting a proper answer from somebody who wasn't too drunk to forget their own name. Then he found a better alternative. He found he was able to simply follow the trails of blood that eventually led to a rusty shithole with a shitty rusty sign reading MURFYS. He slipped quietly into the bar trying to remain anonymous, but it was only about two seconds before a yell of 'We got us a human-guy in here!' turned every head in the room his way. David would have kept walking, but a large gueno-person stepped in front of him.
"What's your name human?" He asked baring his teeth as alcoholic fumes exuded from his mouth.
"David." He said smiling politely. "Nice to meet you." The bear-person thing looked at him angrily.
"What did you call me human? He asked as he swayed about drunkenly.
"He called you a pussy Dunn!" Came a call from the back of the room. With a great roar Dunn raised his fist and brought it down heavily. David swiftly side stepped and hit him square in the chin with an uppercut. By this point everyone was standing and cheering.
Dunn leapt at David, but as his adrenaline kicked in he jumped towards the hulking monster and landed on his back as he crashed to the ground. David drove his heel townwards into Dunn's back and jumped off before he could get up. David backed up against the wall as Dunn stood again and swung a clumsy punch. "Time to end this." David thought. David had studied the anatomy of a guai back home, so hopefully the same principles apply. As the punch soared toward him, David quickly ducked under Dunn's arm and jumped around to the side. David flattened his hand out and drove a jab hard into the side of his neck. Dunn froze for a second before crumpling to the ground immobilized. The crowd grew silent as they slowly returned to their seats.
David spun around and headed towards the bartender. Most of the people in the room went back to their drinking, only a few looked back at him as he scanned the room, some stared back in a challenging way, others showed signs of amusement. As David reached the bartender he heard Dunn call: "I'm not done yet you bastard!" This was growing old and David was getting impatient. David unsheathed his sword and with a quick 180 degree turn flicked the sword at him. The sword arced through the air as beams of light from the roof caught the shiny surface, barely missing a couple of patrons, before impaling Dunn's hand and sticking into the wall. David turned back to the bar as a scream of pain echoed through the air. Ignoring the yells from the back, David asked the bartender:
"Have you see-"
"Yeah I've seen your dad kid." He cut in with an odd accent(Scottish). "Was heading to Rise city. Apparently he has some kind of plan to enslave us all or something. I wasn't really listening. Maybe destroy us all. I don't actually care y'know?" Colin Murphy looked at Dunn in the back of the bar. "Now piss off, you'll scare away my customers, and that's really saying something considering these tough bastards."
David nodded and proceeded to the back of the bar, where he ripped the sword out of the wall, and the unconscious Dunn's hand and headed back into town.
"Enslave us all? This just gets more interesting by the minute." He thought with a smile.
///////////////////////////////////
David saw Shawna late in the afternoon. She came out of a pharmacy on the road they had parted on.
"Hey Shawna!" David called out to her. Shawna jumped a little, taken by surprise.
"Oh, David, there ye' are." She said with a pleasant smile.
"What were you getting in there?" He asked.
"Oh, just some antibiotics, medicine and stuff." She said as they wandered down the street.
"For what?" He probed further.
"For when I'm sick." She said with a cheery 'no shit' look. Shawna noticed a spot of red on David's white suit.
"What have you been doin?" She retaliated.
"Oh, you know, interacting with the locals." He said innocently. Shawna wasn't buying it.
"Interacting their hands off." He added smiling.
The crowd in the street became silent again. Once again the velvet clad feline strode down the road. This time she was going slightly faster and looked even more disgusted at the canines around her. No sooner had she came she was gone again.
"This doesn't look good. Shawna said as the people resumed their frantic talks. "Why, what's wrong?" David asked trying to work out what she meant.
"Well," Shawna continued, "We never did ave a steady relationship wit the kitties." She said as David smiled at the use of the term.
"Kitties?" He asked.
"Rise citizens." She explained. "S been a little rocky lately with diplomacy an sich. Isn't looking good." She said looking down the road to try and see the ambassador. Just to clarify things a little, a couple of pairs of loudspeakers crackled to life all along the street.
"Attention citizens of megatown." Came and authoritive sounding voice. "This is Jacob Patrickson, Minister of defence speaking." The crowd lowered to a hush. "This... we..." The figures confidence wavered for a second before he carried on. "This is a dark day for us all I'm afraid. The ambassador miss Chelsea Lawson and I have concluded that, well, peace is no longer an option for our two peoples, as of four-forty-three this afternoon, we are at war." a chorus of yells of anger and despair erupted from the crowd. "Miss Lawson tells me that the recent Oregon incident cannot be ignored. We have tried to reason with the felines, but miss Lawson refuses to believe that a band of wulf raiders could have killed a party of diplomats on their return trip to rise city, insisting that this was an organised military operation. Our operation."
The voice paused as a saddened sight came over the loudspeakers. "Fear not though citizens. We are here for you, WE SHALL FIGHT FOR YOU!" A couple of Cheers and yells erupted. "We shall fight the felines off! We will hold the city! WE SHALL FIGHT FOR YOU!" Another chorus of yells erupted from the crowd as the loudspeakers turned off.
"Oh no." Shawna said looking worried. "This isn't going to turn out well."
"Why? You have a military force don't you?" David asked in concern.
"We have a police force, but when wars break out..." Shawna looked at her feet and shifted about a little.
"What happens?" David asked still a little worried, but he didn't show it.
"Our police force isn't big enough to fight as an army, so...the government implies conscription." David realised what this was about. Shawna wasn't worried so much about an invasion, she was worried about him.
"Hey don't worry Shawna, I'll be fine." He said reassuringly as he gave her a hug and a quick peck on the cheek. "You have to leave the city." She said. "It's the only way to get out of it."
"Get out of it?" David asked. "No way, I'm staying right here to fight these kitties off."
"But what about yer dad?" She asked. David smiled.
"My dad is in rise city." He said. "It would be in my best interests to visit him after this war is over, I would think." He said. Shawna sighed deeply with the knowledge that there was nothing she could do to stop him.
"All right then." She said as she looked upwards towards the darkening sky. "C'mon, let's head home before it gets too dark." David smiled at her words. "Home." He thought.
////////////////////////////
Shawna sat opposite David at the table as she sipped some hot coffee. They sat, drinking in silence for a second before David spoke up.
"Shawna, are you sick?" He asked suddenly. Shawna put her drink down.
"No, why do ya think that?" She asked wondering what he meant.
"At the pharmacy, you were hiding something from me, do you have any medical conditions or something?" He asked concerned.
"Oh no, not at all." She said drinking more coffee, and perhaps hiding her face at the same time. "Jus some medicine in case I get sick." She said. David was about to ask her something else when there was a sharp rap on the door. Shawna quickly jumped out of her seat and opened the door. David followed to see who it was.
A human man stood in the doorway with his hands clasped behind his back. His dark green suit was decorated with a dozen on so medals adorning the upper torso. A golden wolf head was situated at the front of his hat.
"Sergeant Jeremy Smith ma'm, Megatown homeland security, military division." The man said with a small nod as he stepped inside.
"Well hello there sergeant." Shawna greeted him with a forced smile. "Shawna." Smith gave another and immediately fixated his eyes on David.
"Do you know what's going on out there son?" He asked authoratively cutting straight to the chase. David knew what all of this was about. When it came to recruiting, these guys didn't screw around.
"Yeah, I know." He said slowly. Smith approached David slowly. David stood straight as the sergeant stopped in front of him. Smith prodded David with his finger.
"So you know what I'm here for then boy. I want to see you at the Ralts street monument, tomorrow at six, sharp. Or else I'll be back." He said. David nodded and the sergeant turned around.
"Sergeant?" He called to him. Smith turned around.
"Touch me again and I'll break your arm." He said. "Sir." He added smiling slightly. Smith gave a small grunt and walked out the open doorway and left.
"That was pretty straightforward." He said. Shawna nodded as she closed the door.
"Hey, I'll talk with you in a second, I need to use the toilet." She said as she left the room. Sat back down on the chair and glanced about the room again for no particular reason. There was a fire burning in one corner giving off heat, David's sword was propped up in another corner, and in beside the bed were a couple of bags from all the shopping they had done.
Shawna emerged a couple of minutes later. "Hey can you put this in my room?" She asked picking up a bag full of clothes and handing it to David. "I'm going to put these away in the bathroom" She said, abruptly picking up another bag and taking it away. David quickly ran into Shawna's room and came back out again and sat down.
Shawna came back out again. Her eyes quickly darted about as she came in.
"What's wrong?" David asked poker-faced.
"Nut'n, what do ye mean?" She asked, her eyes still darted from one bag to another.
"Did you lose something?" David asked. Shawna's eyes stopped moving and rested on David. A look of shock crossed her face as she saw his mischievous smile.
"You didn't!" She mouthed shaking her head.
"Oh I did." He said standing up and walking towards her. He knew he had the upper hand now.
Shawna backed away a little as he advanced. "I, I just, i-" She gave a high squeal as David wrapped his arms around her back and lifted her up into the air. Shawna wrapped her legs around him as she giggled quietly.
"You know, I'm feeling a little sick," he started, "I think I might need some of that medicine you bought today." He said bringing another squeal out of her as he squeezed her a little. "In fact, I think I'm so sick I might just have to go to bed." He said smiling as he brushed his hand down her tail.
"Well I think I might have to come with you then," She started putting her hand on his shoulders. "Y'know, to protect you. Wouldn't want somebawdy coming in at nightime and take'n advantage of you while yer sick and all." She said.
"Oh don't you worry," David said. "I got the protection sussed already." He said moving his hands lower and giving a little squeeze again. Shawna squeeled again and leant over forward to her body was pressed against David's and gave moved her mouth onto his. After a tender moment she pulled back and huskily whispered into his ear.
"Well what are you waiting for then cowboy?"
//////////////////////////////////
.................Let us make things a little more interesting................