Episode 54: The Eviction Date: Monday, September 24, 2277, about 1 AM“You! You’re a
raider? I can’t believe it! How long has this been going on?”
Taneesha Jones stood before her housemate, dumbfounded. Unable to respond for a moment or two. -
Dag, she already knows! - She’d needed to return to Megaton and then Lucy’s place in order to get her things: her modified shotgun, her 21st-century police-issued Tazer, her clothes and ammo, and any other personal items she could scrounge. She'd decided to make the walk from Springvale School to Megaton after midnight. Once inside Lucy West's house she'd leave a note, hoping to avoid a saddened goodbye.
“Hey look Lucy, I can explain…”
“I don’t wanna hear it!” Lucy’s voice rose. “YOU. A *clucking* raider?!”
Miss Lucy West, respectable member of Megaton’s small and insular Wasteland society for several years now, crossed her arms, discreetly making sure the knife she’d been in the habit of carrying was tucked within her jacket. “Now it all makes sense. Your absences, especially at night. The chem-syringes I’ve occasionally been finding around the house. Getting caught
stealing, and then
going to jail!” The woman who’d taken Taneesha in smacked her own head with some force. “How could I not’ve seen the signs?!”
Taneesha nodded. “Guess news spreads fast,” she muttered, looking to the floor. She’d been hoping Cho Zen Wan, the BoS scout who’d caught her dwelling within the raider-infused Springvale School as he shot up the place, wouldn’t tell anyone about Taneesha’s double-life. That his unfortunate discovery would become a secret shared only between the two of them.
“I’m truly sorry, Lucy, really I am. But it ain’t no thing, okay? Matter of fact, was on my way out. Heading off to Rivet City, actually. Was hoping you'd be asleep; was gonna leave a note. Only reason I’m here is to get ma things. Was hoping it wouldn't turn out this way. In any case, you’ll never see my *behind* again.”
“Oh, you got that right! You’re getting the HELL out of here! Matter of fact you’ve got about… two minutes to get ALL your things out of MY house, before I report a trespasser..” To Taneesha’s astonishment, Lucy then began counting backwards “Sixty. Fifty-nine. Fifty-eight…”
Hey, that ain’t two minutes! Not that it mattered much; she’d be outta here before long. Wasn’t like she owned a whole lot of things. Taneesha Jones did her best to heed what was now her former friend’s warning. Rushed toward the locker she’d been using to store things over the past few weeks, where she grabbed her guns, her ammo, her cigs and chems, her precious flashlight,.
“Thirty-eight. Thirty-seven. Thirty-six…”
She then rushed across the upper floor of the tin-constructed home, her boots clanking and scuffling loudly over the metal causeway which joined their two open bedrooms. She opened the wardrobe Lucy had allowed her to use during her stay, which was mostly full of apparel. Grabbed as many outfits as she could, stuffing them into an ages-old duffel bag with a Feebok label on it, whatever the heck Feebok was. Some sort of athletic brand, she’d been told.
“Twenty-nine! Twenty-eight!”
Lucy’s voice rose yet another notch, scaring the *skit* out of her evictee, causing panic. Only good thing about this harried encounter between Taneesha and her now-former landlady is that Bratty wasn’t here. Taneesha (still dressed in raider gear, therefore Miss Vicious) had convinced the brat to stay behind in Springvale. Her Lady’s Intuition had told Vicious that somehow, keeping Bratty out of Megaton would be one heck of a good idea, and boy-o, what a good decision that’d been.
“
Fourteen! Thirteen!!” Lucy growled, baring actual teeth.
“Here,” Taneesha said calmly, with just twelve seconds to go. “You never did charge me for staying in your home, but take these anyway,” she said, tossing a handful of caps on a nearby counter. “Sorry, again,” she said, her voice cracking. “Wish things turned out different, Miss West.”
And with that, Taneesha Jones was out the door.
The silence which followed was about as absolute as silence can be, in a home and town made mostly of solder-welds, metal planks, rebar, and whatever else Megatonians were able to scavenge. Therefore, the usual cacophony of sounds fill the air; creaks and groans which over time, most folks in Megaton would typically ignore. But to Lucy, the din within her home seemed suddenly, enormously loud.
“I love you, Taneesha Jones,” Lucy West finally said inside her vacated house. “But I also never want to see you again.”
—----------------------------
Taneesha's troubles weren't over yet, however.
"STOP!" Megaton's enforcement officer shouted. "You're under arrest!"
Uh oh. "I am?"
The officer explained that Taneesha had accrued a few offences, but did not explain what these offences were. Lucy West was still inside her home, and couldn't possibly have reported Taneesha for trespassing. Not yet.
"Cho. The Lone Wanderer," Taneesha mumbled.
He's the one. Bastard told on me, for being a raider!"You have but three choices," the officer explained. "Pay some caps, go to our illustrious jail, or you can resist. I suggest you choose one of the first two."
Taneesha thought for a moment. She'd already been to jail, with the stupid Jail Bot annoying her to no end, day and night.
She ain't gettin' my caps. Which only left one choice.
"Oh hail no, *witch*. Guess you'll have to catch me then!"
"I'm about to send my goon after you," officer-*witch* said. "You'd better get out of Megaton NOW!"
Not a prob. Wasn't like she'd ever be coming back.
The *witch* officer swung her nightstick, but Taneesha was too quick! She rushed down the rampway, made a sharp right past the unexploded bomb which served as the object of religion for the Church of Atom. Down here, a figure came rushing toward her, but it was too dark to see. "I'm gonna tear you apart!" a man said. Probably he was the 'goon' referred to by the enforcement *witch*.
Again, Miss West sidestepped, avoiding whatever the goon swung at her.
"Are you lookin' for the mayor? Or the sheriff?" asked Lucas Simms, Megaton's mayor and sheriff.
Taneesha stomped up the hill, her Feebok bag rustling along with her. Within seconds she was out of Megaton, her eyes casting
mere glances behind her to see if the officer and her goon were coming to hunt the evictee down. But no one followed. No one came after her.
"Phew."
Half-hour later, Taneesha transformed into Miss Vicious, trading her dirty Prewar attire for badlands-style raider gear before returning to Springvale School.
"Eh, what took you so long?" asked Bratty, who seemed wired on something. "You got a cig, Vicious? ... Eh? What's the matta wichu?" she questioned, her Jersey accent going full force. Probably had something to do with the wetness under her best friend's eyes.
Rivet City would be a fresh start. Supposedly, most of the city’s inhabitants were down-to-earth types, workers and settlers, so it wouldn’t be like Tenpenny Tower, the first place Taneesha had stayed, with all those fake-*bass* phonies. Rivet City itself was a gigantic Prewar military ship. From what she'd been hearing, the place was well fortified against super mutants, and other Wasteland threats. But also raiders. Once Taneesha, Bratty, and possibly Q-Tip stepped onto the boat, they'd be leaving their raider lives behind.
"I'll no longer be Miss Vicious once I go that route," Taneesha Jones said an hour later in the classroom she'd claimed as her home over the past month or so.
"Huh? Whatcha talkin' bout now?" Bratty queried. Stupid girl was still wearing that stupid pink dress.
"C'mon brat, let's get some sleep. Got a big day tomorrow."
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Lucy is pissedCountdown begins...Leaving Lucy West Officer *witch* lady Goodbye MegatonLopov'd---------------------------------`
Notes: 1). When Lucy said "You're getting the HELL out of here" I used LucyWestRef.SendTresspassAlarm PlayerRef which causes Taneesha to have a certain amount of time to get out of Lucy's house. But I wasn't fast enough! I think this gave my toon a MinorCrime (the GECK defines some crimes as Minor, such as Stealing and Trespassing. Others, such as Assault and Murder as Major). Pretty sure Taneesha picked up the Trespassing charge.
Suffice to say, she won't be welcome back in Megaton ever again!