Yes Acadian, Sugar Bombs sound disgusting! And yes, there was a Stormcrow sighting..
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I think I recognize that blonde lady in the black and white armor!
Hee hee! I was so worried about this!

I'll ask next time, if there is a next time. I had real fun writing that part up.
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Uh woo woo! Somebody’s in trouble! Good thing she’s rather fleet of foot!
I hope so. We shall see....
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Last week! Taneesha Jones, also known as Miss Vicious, has settled into Megaton, but is having some trouble deciding whether to stay or not.
Megaton. Sunday, August 26, 2277Two days passed, and life moved on. Taneesha Jones settled quietly into Megaton. The odder moments of her initial entrance into town became the latest topics of gossip for some. But overall, nothing much came of this.
The creep from the restroom three nights' prior did not make a reappearance. Taneesha listened for his voice all over town, which she knew she'd be able to identify. Whoever the creep was, he'd been keeping silent. Maybe he'd even left town.
Lucas Simms, the tall dude who'd startled her arrival, now generally left her alone. The man with the bat who'd killed Mister Burke (whose name was Cho, she learned) left town to do some investigating for Moira Brown, Megaton's main trader. Rumor was he'd originally come from nearby Vault 101; even the d.j. on the radio had mentioned something about this. Taneesha also met up with Lucy West a couple times. Apologized in person for leaving Lucy's pad so abruptly.
"Any time you need a place to crash," Lucy had said the previous day...
For reasons Taneesha herself did not fully understand, she declined Lucy's offer once again. Instead, she'd begun to stay at another Megaton establishment, a place simply called the Common House. Located on Megaton's top tier, kitty-corner to the Church of Atom, the Common House was just that, a place where any commoner (or settler, as they often called themselves) could stay. No religion required. But staying there had its own set of catches. Compared to Atom's church, the Common House was dimmer. Dirtier. Danker. It had less rules, and its fridge was communally packed with food offered from those who had more money. However, it was the sort of place for layabouts and vagabonds. The sort of place where you kept your things nearby at all times. Certain commoners had been living there for years, somehow. Taneesha did not wish to become one of them.
Otherwise, staying in the Common House wasn't so bad. Over the past two years, she'd willingly lived in places much worse. Her problems began as the stash she'd looted from those raiders in Fairfax finally ran out.
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8:32 pm"Can't even afford some damn squirrel stick," a nearby settler mumbled, as Taneesha walked by on this fine summer evening.
"Hi there, miss," a young girl greeted.
Taneesha waved back. Smiled, even. Her third full day in town, and things weren't going so bad. A little dull perhaps, but safe, and tolerable.
She entered Megaton's bar, bought herself some rum. Twelve less caps in her purse. Money was getting tight. And, as she had intuited, there were no jobs available in Megaton. No paying jobs, anyway. Moira Brown was offering money to anybody who would help her with some sort of book she was writing, but to get compensated meant to go into some highly dangerous places, and come back out alive! Not a mission for somebody packing a dime store pistol, at best.
She sipped her rum, retching a bit at its awesome warmth. Reached into her pack, only to find she was out of chems. "Uhhh, geez. Say it ain't so" she moaned. Unfortuantely, it was so. She'd injected her last Psycho the previous day, and had used her last Jet inhaler some time in the night. She sat pensively a moment. Lit a cigarette. Megaton might be safe and tolerable; it was its 'dull' part could eventually become a problem.
"Lord, give me strength."
She prayed to herself a moment, but quickly knew this attempt was futile. Religion was not going to help, not without the full support of her former Witness group, most of whom were probably dead by now. She tried again. Nothing, from the Man upstairs. Her thoughts raced a bit, and her arms were suddenly itchy. This wasn't due to the clothes she'd now been wearing for four days straight. She twisted in her chair. Knew where she'd need to go next, if she was to avoid withdrawal.
"Lookin's free," said Nova, the bar's resident call girl, as Taneesha stood out of her chair, "but the rest will cost ya."
"As if," Taneesha answered with a smirk. "But good luck to you, girl." Stalked off into the night. Outside, it had begun to rain again.
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9:33 pm"STOP!" exclaimed the lady wearing the beige guard's uniform, as Taneesha exited Megaton's clinic. This lady, this guard or whatever, grabbed Taneesha's arm forcefully. "You have violated the law here in Megaton!"
"Say what?" Taneesha had noticed this guard lady several times by now, in days' past. Guard lady was someone new. She hadn't been in town two years ago. So who the hell was this lady? "I have violated the law? ...
What law?"
"You have been caught committing a crime," guard lady ignored patiently, "and for this you must pay. Stealing, pickpockets, trespassing, assault and murder are all against the law nowadays, by order of Sherriff Simms."
Taneesha grimaced glumly, trying to think of an excuse, or something. But also thinking suddenly of 'Thou shalt not steal.' The seventh commandment, which she had just broken, plain as day. "Okay, you got me," she relented. Moments before, she'd been witnessed stealing some Psycho. Once inside of Megaton's Clinic, she'd looked around a bit, crouched down, and then tried to take an injector off a shelf, only to be seen by Doc Church, the clinic's physician. "So like ... what is this? What are you saying, here?"
She glanced momentarily around the plaza, embarrassed and confused. There were a few settlers moseying around, but nobody she knew well. Best of all, there was no Lucy West.
"You have but three choices now," guard lady informed. "Pay some caps, go to our fine jail, or resist arrest. I'd highly recommend not taking that final choice."
"Jail?" she asked incredulously. "Ain't no jail in Megaton."
"There is now. Are you saying you wish to go there?"
Taneesha thought about it a moment. Paying caps was not an option, not when she was down to her last two dozen or so. "Uh. I guess."
"I know you've done wrong," guard lady replied, her voice toning down. "It happens sometimes. Hopefully cooling your heels in our cell might set you straight." She sounded different now. Maybe even compassionate.
"So, what does this all mean?"
"You're off to jail. I hereby sentence you to the term of 24 hours, after which, you'll be conditionally allowed back into Megaton, assuming you keep your thieving hands to yourself."
"Oh my guhd."
Taneesha Jones was handcuffed, then led outside of Megaton's gigantic, creaking gates.
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Common HousePsycho in Megaton ClinicArrestIncarceration
This post has been edited by Renee: Oct 25 2020, 01:45 PM