Fallout Play-By-Post

[Songbird]

Robin

Faust sits down near Robin, but still giving her enough space. He carefully puts a hand on her shoulder. "You're doing great."

"I can't think in anything useful," she replies. Before she was in shock: Feeling slightly stupid but focused without distracting emotions. She isn't in shock like that anymore, now she's just stupid. She moves to check the radiation as requested. "Nothing on us."

[thegreyarea]

Nine

Nine raises, still a bit unsteady. The pain makes he frown a little, but he moves closer to the door. "Before we try again, let me take another look at that generator. Don't worry, I'll be brief."
1d10+7: 16 [1d10=9]

This time Nine gets a really good look at the room. He quickly closes the door and turns to face the others. "Now I saw it better! It's really a sentry bot, but it's damaged. Its weapons are kind of... melted."

"And the generators... One of them is off, as we already know, but looks undamaged. Both have some big red buttons on them..." Nine rests his back on the wall, still a bit shaken." ...and I guess those are on-off switches. Now, if they allow us to manually restart the other generator, we could turn off the bad one from the terminal, pass the room safely and later turn on the good one. Reserve power will hold the place while we do it."

He turns to face Jay. "You have an... affinity with machines, right? Could you take a look, just like I did? But please be careful."

[Kitty]

Robin

"I can't think in anything useful," she replies. Before she was in shock: Feeling slightly stupid but focused without distracting emotions. She isn't in shock like that anymore, now she's just stupid. She moves to check the radiation as requested. "Nothing on us."

Hmmm... Grey is planning stuff more thoroughly now. Faust begins to feel like he's the type of a guy that gets shot first and then learns to use a cover.

In any case, assuming that Jay is not stupid and that they don't wreck this place and kill their families trying to deal with the lightning-shooting generator, he should leave planning to them. He has a moment to spare for a pep talk, especially now that they at least had some kind of a confirmation that the generators weren't leaking anything except deadly, metal-melting amounts of electricity.

"You're kidding, right?" he says brightly, but quiet enough not to interrupt the others while they are making plans. "Look at you, using all these tools, terminals, planning ahead, making stuff like bandages and helping Grey to make sure he's fine, and scouting. You're not a strategist, and you don't have to be. Nobody can do everything, this is why people stick together and take care of each other. You're brave and cool, and super smart. As I said before, you're doing great."

[Songbird]

Robin

When Nine starts to get up Robin leans forward to help him. He returns to the door, moving maybe too gingerly, and she settles back, watching him apprehensively.

"You're kidding, right?" he says brightly, but quiet enough not to interrupt the others while they are making plans. "Look at you, using all these tools, terminals, planning ahead, making stuff like bandages and helping Grey to make sure he's fine, and scouting. You're not a strategist, and you don't have to be. Nobody can do everything, this is why people stick together and take care of each other. You're brave and cool, and super smart. As I said before, you're doing great."

Tension forces a nervous laugh out of her. "Sorry. Terminals? That doesn't speak in my favor at all, that— they're no mystery and they were unlocked. All you have to do is to click on clearly labeled options, and I still managed to close that door by accident," she says, the remains of a quirky smile lingering on her lips. "That wasn't very clever, was it?" Leaning back on the wall, she continues in a more staid tone, "I'm afraid of the generator room because I know exactly what a direct hit will do to us. We don't have the equipment to treat that. We don't have even an ice pack for Nine, all we got is decades old trash and these stupid suits.

"It's... what happened is catching up to me. I'm having a hard time thinking clearly, I'm sorry. It'll get better once we're on the move again and I'm busy." She rubs her eye, looks at Faust, thoughtful for a moment, then pointedly turns her attention to Nine again to mask her thoughts. Robin doesn't know what make of Faust. Here he was, trying to cheer her up. He went out of his way to try to protect her and the other kid, Charlie. His was a naïve type of kindness, well-intentioned but which wouldn't end well, because he had no real power to shield them from harm. All he had was knee-jerk good intentions. At the same time, he lied to them. He hid who he was for no good reason she could think of. It's unsettling. She wonders about what he's hiding, what else he's lying about, and if she'll even be able to spot his lies. He might offer comforting words, but when he shuts up it's hard to not remember his untrustworthiness and not feel nervous about it.

[thegreyarea]

Nine

There are still to many aching points all over him. Nine lets his body slide down the wall and sits next to Robin, listening as she speaks with Faust. He ponders for a moment over her words. "I think you, and to be fair we all, are coping quite well, all things considered." unconsciously his hand grabs the chain around his neck for a second, before letting it go. "We just woke up to find our world is over, and everyone we care about is..." He stops, recalling that she still has hopes about the people on the pods. "...either gone or trapped inside those machines."

"Right now the best we can do is keep moving and gather all the info we can get. Let's see what Jay can find about the generators." He looks her in the eyes. "And thanks again. I'll be fine... though some ice would surely feel good."

[amaranthineamusement]

Jay looks into the room, desperately trying to remember what he knows about generators. He's not getting much about the robot, but..."The generators should have a big red manual shutdown button. We should go for it." He glances at nine, noting his injuries. "Or, well... I guess I should go for it. The button is probably at the terminal."

[thegreyarea]

Nine

Nine's torso still hurts. He pulls a bottle out of his bag and sips. "Jay is right. We can shut down that generator at the terminal, and then restart the other one... probably." He looks at his wrench, lying over the Duffel. "Anyway, I'm not over the first plan yet. What if we try with something smaller before throwing the robot again? Maybe a wrench? We have more than one."

[Songbird]

Robin

Nine

There are still to many aching points all over him. Nine lets his body slide down the wall and sits next to Robin, listening as she speaks with Faust. He ponders for a moment over her words. "I think you, and to be fair we all, are coping quite well, all things considered." unconsciously his hand grabs the chain around his neck for a second, before letting it go. "We just woke up to find our world is over, and everyone we care about is..." He stops, recalling that she still has hopes about the people on the pods. "...either gone or trapped inside those machines."

"Right now the best we can do is keep moving and gather all the info we can get. Let's see what Jay can find about the generators." He looks her in the eyes. "And thanks again. I'll be fine... though some ice would surely feel good."

Robin nods. The corners of her mouth shows the hint of an impish smile and she quips, trying to lighten the mood, "Just don't get yourself in more trouble. I can't operate miracles with almost-clean bandages."

She looks up at Jay as he points out the existence of the manual shutdown button. It'd be the perfect solution, if only the designers hadn't placed the these right beside the fatally malfunctioning generators. Nine's suggestion prompts her to say, "Do we only need to press a button? If we're doing it I probably should be the one getting in the room. I'm okay at the sprinting and evading part and I'm a smaller target, slightly harder to hit by default."

[thegreyarea]

Nine

He's a bit drowsy from the pain, but Robin's suggestions wakes him up. "No, no! We don't want a roasted Robin! I'm quite sure the security room terminal has the option to shut down the generators from there. No need to risk your life." A sharp pain hits his ribs as he raises again. "Damn, I hope nothing is broken here. The good thing is that we probably can restart the undamaged one after we cross the room using those red buttons. The bad thing is that it may not happen. We don't know why that generator is offline. It looks undamaged, but maybe there's something broken inside."

Nine moves so he's facing the group. "If we cannot restart the good generator we would have to try with the bad one, which means someone would have to take the risk of hitting the button and run for the exit. But..." He raises a hand. "...we also have to face the possibility that neither generator can be restarted. " He pauses to let his words sink.

"If that happens we would have one or two months to get help and try to save the ones still in the pods. Before that, however, I would like to try again diverting the discharges. We can throw a wrench, and if that doesn't work two of us can throw the robot together. So, what you say about that?"

[Kitty]

Robin

Robin nods. The corners of her mouth shows the hint of an impish smile and she quips, trying to lighten the mood, "Just don't get yourself in more trouble. I can't operate miracles with almost-clean bandages."

She looks up at Jay as he points out the existence of the manual shutdown button. It'd be the perfect solution, if only the designers hadn't placed the these right beside the fatally malfunctioning generators. Nine's suggestion prompts her to say, "Do we only need to press a button? If we're doing it I probably should be the one getting in the room. I'm okay at the sprinting and evading part and I'm a smaller target, slightly harder to hit by default."

Nine

He's a bit drowsy from the pain, but Robin's suggestions wakes him up. "No, no! We don't want a roasted Robin! I'm quite sure the security room terminal has the option to shut down the generators from there. No need to risk your life." A sharp pain hits his ribs as he raises again. "Damn, I hope nothing is broken here. The good thing is that we probably can restart the undamaged one after we cross the room using those red buttons. The bad thing is that it may not happen. We don't know why that generator is offline. It looks undamaged, but maybe there's something broken inside."

Nine moves so he's facing the group. "If we cannot restart the good generator we would have to try with the bad one, which means someone would have to take the risk of hitting the button and run for the exit. But..." He raises a hand. "...we also have to face the possibility that neither generator can be restarted. " He pauses to let his words sink.

"If that happens we would have one or two months to get help and try to save the ones still in the pods. Before that, however, I would like to try again diverting the discharges. We can throw a wrench, and if that doesn't work two of us can throw the robot together. So, what you say about that?"

"Absolutely not" Faust agrees. "Nobody goes in there while there's lightning. But on another note, can't we try throwing something at the big red button itself? All it needs is to be pressed, right? It's an on/off switch?"

[amaranthineamusement]

"Absolutely not" Faust agrees. "Nobody goes in there while there's lightning. But on another note, can't we try throwing something at the big red button itself? All it needs is to be pressed, right? It's an on/off switch?"

"I have always wanted to press a big red button." Grin from Jay and fingerguns. It doesn't hit as well as he wishes it would, because at the moment he wiggles his eyebrows there's another flash of lighting from behind him. He decides to just get on with it and pulls out the wrench from his bag, throwing it towards the button with all of the practice of little league baseball from 200 years ago.

agility check to yeet that wrench: 1d10+3 5

luck check to yeet that wrench: 1d10+6 7

....Okay, so maybe he wasn't that great at little league. He watches with horror as another bolt of lighting in the room intercepts the wrench and throws it back at his head. He has a precious few seconds to react before his brain becomes a rough approximation of marinara sauce.

ducking the consequences of his own failure: 1d10+3 13

With a jolt of adrenaline moving through him, Jay reaches out and grabs the wrench as it hurtles towards him, spinning with the motion and releasing it once it's facing the generator again. As it leaves his hands, he watches it arc towards the generator, hitting the red button with a satisfying thunk.

A quiet hum, and the generator activates. Jay looks down at his hand, flexing it slightly. It smells a little like burned hair. "Huh."

[Songbird]

Robin

Nine

He's a bit drowsy from the pain, but Robin's suggestions wakes him up. "No, no! We don't want a roasted Robin! I'm quite sure the security room terminal has the option to shut down the generators from there. No need to risk your life." A sharp pain hits his ribs as he raises again. "Damn, I hope nothing is broken here. The good thing is that we probably can restart the undamaged one after we cross the room using those red buttons. The bad thing is that it may not happen. We don't know why that generator is offline. It looks undamaged, but maybe there's something broken inside."

Nine moves so he's facing the group. "If we cannot restart the good generator we would have to try with the bad one, which means someone would have to take the risk of hitting the button and run for the exit. But..." He raises a hand. "...we also have to face the possibility that neither generator can be restarted. " He pauses to let his words sink.

"If that happens we would have one or two months to get help and try to save the ones still in the pods. Before that, however, I would like to try again diverting the discharges. We can throw a wrench, and if that doesn't work two of us can throw the robot together. So, what you say about that?"

"Absolutely not" Faust agrees. "Nobody goes in there while there's lightning. But on another note, can't we try throwing something at the big red button itself? All it needs is to be pressed, right? It's an on/off switch?"

"Take easy, Nine. I wouldn't do that before you divert the energy by throwing something," she states flatly. "I'm trying to help, not die. But you want to hit the button itself?! What if you miss? I don't think it's a good i—"

Robin trails off as Jay throws the wrench, watching the unfolding events with wide eyes. Time seems to stretch strangely, the seconds the wrench took to fly into the room, back and out again crawling by as she tries to get up. Her ability to move doesn't increase to match the time, and she's only halfway when everything is done.

"What... how?!" She runs, peeking inside the generator room from the door to then gape at Jay, too stunned to speak.

[Kitty]

Faust clearly has a blue screen moment in his head, but he manages to snap out of it. "Get that hand under water, now! You know where the faucet is! Go! Holy duck. How the. Nice throw. Should I try turning off the other one?"

[Songbird]

Robin

Faust clearly has a blue screen moment in his head, but he manages to snap out of it. "Get that hand under water, now! You know where the faucet is! Go! Holy duck. How the. Nice throw. Should I try turning off the other one?"

"T-that's right!" Robin said, recovering a bit of her composure. "Please do."

She grabs Jay's arm and starts to tow him to the canteen, talking excitedly, "How did you do that? That was incredibly stupid, never throw things at generators we need again please, but, how? Where you learned to throw like that? And catch! I can't believe you caught that! Please teach me this!"

[thegreyarea]

Nine

Nine stares, incredulous, as the events unfold. A few seconds after the generator restarts he finally manages to close his mouth, just to start laughing. "Ha ha ha! Jay! That's the luckiest fail I've seen! Ha ha... ouch!" His ribs hurt again, forcing him to stop.

He listens to Faust and watches as Robin takes Jay to the canteen. "Look, nobody needs to risk life again. That thing could have killed me, and Jay! No more throwing! Now that we have one good generator running we simply go to the security room and turn off the damaged one." He starts to move down the hallway. "Someone wants to come with me?"

"Oh, and we must be careful anyway. We still don't know if that sentry bot is active. It may have no weapons, but could easily crush a person."