VAULT 33.

private independant blog for norman 'norm' maclean from amazon prime's fallout

[pipboygenius]

so what's vault thirty-two and thirty three, just people to be controlled? private independent norman 'norm' maclean from prime's fallout penned by beck (x)

[savingthrcw]

A part of Lucy wanted to smile at her brother, who of course would find the most practical summary for it. Then again, without details he wouldn't realize just how horrifying Vault Tec could be, since they had apparently gotten lucky with their own. They were breeding stock, but not the same way women in Vault 4 had been. "Yes, that's the short version." The long version, the holotapes she had seen, would always live on in her head. "I have to tell you the long version, Norm, literally everyone else will try to convince you that you can't choose to do the right thing. That ghouls are monsters, that we have no hope, that... that we need to run back to the Vault even if we are being lied to, because it's safe." Freedom was worth more, not to mention that Lucy didn't think there was anything safe in a Vault where her father was still able to nuke a city.

"He didn't-he was-he's a bit shy, he didn't want to... Later he wanted to, but I didn't have time," she explained in an uncharacteristically flustered way, instead of taking her brother's words for the teasing that they were. "We only kissed," the smile on her face was entirely too enamoured, and she collected herself with a nervous glance at her brother, "But that's not relevant. What were we talking about?"

[pipboygenius]

it is a horrible concept. that they are nothing but guinea pigs in a large test. one that wasn't ever going to end. not until they were the only ones still living. how many more bombs would be dropped in their task for a success on the spreadsheet. "only you would see a land of murder and sin and go i can change it." norm isn't sure he can subscribe to it but for his sister he'd try. lucy has always had a happy go lucky view on life and norm can't ever dampen her parade. "it is false safety. like living in a bubble. only that bubble got popped when the raiders got in."

he isn't as experienced in romance as lucy is. sure, he's slept with people. it's a vault and sometimes emotions run high. but he has never seen it as more as sleeping together. "but you wanted more." it's so obvious and he is going to keep digging. "we were talking about how you wanted to fuck your friend but didn't."

[galaeus]

He can say that again. Echo's been scrubbling the damn toliets of the vault for as long as she can remember. The bare minimum allows her not only to stay, but to stay out of the way. Before they enter the vault, Echo leans in with a knowing smirk. "Welcome to the bottom of the barrel with me, buddy."

Stepping away, she carefully slips into Vault 32 and sticks to the walls. Gliding across the perimeter to stay out of sight, she peers around a corner and waves him to follow. If 33 is anything like 32, then the Overseer's office is only a hop, skip, and a jump away. She turns a chin to look back at him.

"Gotta say, Norm, it's kinda neat you even know how to hack stuff. The best I can do is pick locks and get into physical places people don't want me to be."

[pipboygenius]

"it's nice down here." he jokes with a smirk before stepping into the vault. they wouldn't have long to get in and get out. after all, betty wanted to close the doors as soon as possible. it was only because some dwellers were still moving that they could even get into the other vault while being assigned to 33.

he shrugs, it's not that big a deal. his father has had him at his terminal for as long as he can remember. lucy had preferred the physical and norm the mental. together they were the perfect vault dweller.

"that's a skill too. i mean, lock-picking can get you into places i can't through hacking. though, i'm sure dad teaching me all the tricks of the terminal is gonna come back and bite him sooner or later. i am a few lines of code away from getting into his personal files."

[hcartsleeved]

‘   well   —   that’s   very   encouraging,   thank   you.   ’         her   tone   drips   with   affable   sarcasm.   useless   with   a   gun?   on   the   surface?   might   as   well   lay   down   and   let   the   fiends   have   at   you.   but   he   already   looked   nervous   enough   and   she   wasn’t   so   cruel   as   to   instill   any more   fear   into   the   —   goshwow   —   vault   dweller.         ‘   well   maybe   you’ll   make   a   good   look   out,   hm?   listen   —   i’ll   make   you   a   fine   and   dandy   deal.   ’         she   crosses   her   arms,   big   brown   eyes   landing   to   the   pipboy   wrapped   around   his   wrist.            ‘   i   help   you   find   your   daddy   and   if   we   succeed   at   the   end   of   all   of   this   —   ’      she   points   to   the   device.            ‘   you   let   me   have   that.   ’

[pipboygenius]

" you really looked at me and said that guy knows how to use a weapon? " norm isn't an idiot. he's not built for violence. his skills are more academic and less manual labour. it's why he failed so often to maintain the enthusiasm for the jobs assigned to him. they didn't test him how he wanted to be tested. he looks down at his pipboy. besides images saved to the datacard there is nothing of value to it. " deal. i can always get a new one when i get back to my vault. "

[helltechnicality]

Being a detective is not all invading people's minds, reading objects, and ta-da, there's your answer. Sometimes, actual detective work is required

independent and private edwin payne from dead boy detectives exorcised by beck (x)

[savingthrcw]

"I have," she agreed, and while Lucy loved learning, she wished she could know just a little less. "There are these people, ghouls, who have taken too much radiations. They lost body parts, their skin is burned... but they are still people, Norm. They need to take vials of medicine so they don't lose their minds, otherwise they become like... animals. But if they have their medicine, they are people just like us, except more irradiated and in pain. And people refuse them entrance in towns, refuse them services. It's incredibly unfair, society could probably do something for ghouls if they all unanimously agreed to found their medicine needs. And there are also mutants, people who descend from the... Vault 4 dwellers who were experimented on by Vault Tec, and they are mostly in hiding. They reclaimed the Vault as their own." Something Lucy kept thinking they should do too, but it was soon for war-talk.

Well, trust her brother to make a comment like that. The gentle way she was leading him turned into a little push, "No, I did not sleep with this one. I did not sleep with anyone, thank you. Not for lack of trying," she admitted, thinking of Maximus. "Oh! But I met someone! I mean I met a friend. A... close friend." No, that didn't sound right either. "His name is Maximus and he's... good. You'll like him, he had to go and deal with some... personal business, but I think he'll find us in Filly. He's... he's so brave and nice..." The first stranger to always come through. The first man she had chosen to try to commit to in a way, asking him to come back to her Vault when she thought of it as home.

[pipboygenius]

it sounded grotesque but it isn't like the people had a choice. radiation could decimate a body and at least some of them had their souls still. the world had continued without them present. they were meant to repopulate and clearly they weren't needed. "that was a lot of information. short version being there are radiated people who need medication not to turn murderous and a vault of people who were experimented on?" how had they never heard of any of these issues? why hadn't they asked more questions?

the tension lightens as he teases his sister. something normal in the sea of confusing newness. "someone turned you down?" surprising as his sister isn't exactly bad looking but maybe sex in the wasteland is a different entity too. "well as long as he has all of his body parts then i support it. no sleeping with ghouls, i don't want to think of something coming off mid intercourse."

[galaeus]

"In both 32 and 33? Geez..." And here she was thinking maybe 33 had an unlucky streak, but the fact that 32 received the same treatment for decades? Echo wants to believe someone, anyone, caught wind of foul play -- but she knows better. To raise your chin makes you an outcast.

She stays quiet as he recounts what he saw with Chet, processing each word with growing confusion. They wanted... out? They revolted? Her face drops, steps softening with every new detail.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Norm," Echo murmurs with a rare, genuine sympathy. "It isn't right. They covered up... people's lives. Their deaths. Vault 32 deserved better." And they'll get better, if the young girl has anything to say about it. Looking over Norm, she nods with determination. "You ready to go in?"

[pipboygenius]

no one had spoken up because they didn't know any better. 31 was meant to be better. smarter. safer. they were the ones they could trust. but clearly there was something else in the water there. a predisposition to control that norm would stop at nothing to unravel.

the murders were horrific. a sight unseen to most of the vault dwellers apart from in holotapes. but he wasn't thinking about it. if he did he'd never stop.

they did deserve better. "i'm ready. we're finding answers one way or another. i can't be demoted any lower."

[savingthrcw]

"Yeah? What about you? You are out here." Clearly Rose had had her impact on both, even the little one. Good parents were just like that. "Speaking of mothers... any chance you met a Barb Howard?" Had she stayed in 33? Returned to 31 because life wasn't going how she had planned in her little devious mind?

When he mentioned the holotape, Janey's heart dropped. She bet she knew which cowboy they were talking about, and a part of her wanted to break into the Vaults just to get more taps. She knew she couldn't, but the thought was there. "We have this thing... Rad-x, you drink it when you start throwing up from the radiation poisoning. That's the filter we've got." It happened to her more often than anybody else, her body had never truly adapted to this world. "Most people can eat for a long time before needing one... you just left the Vault, a glass of water could do you in. Usually you get used to it after a while." She pulled out a rusty knife, flipping it in her hand and offering the handle to him, "You'll need it."

[pipboygenius]

"it was a better alternative than being put in an icebox." he didn't want to think about how many people were still waiting for their shot at control. at their chance to be the overseer of a vault after pretending simply to be another vault dweller. someone born before the bombs even fell. "never met her. doesn't mean she wasn't frozen but if she was alive past that i don't know." his memories as a child were fuzzy but then again he clearly didn't remember as well as he thought.

drinking irradiated water made sense but also terrified him. his body has never experienced any form of radiation and it would not react well to it should he feel it. still, it was better than death, he supposes. he takes the knife and tests the grip. it's not normal for him to be armed. a hazard waiting to happen. but if this is what it took then he'd have to adapt. "thanks. for all of this."

[galaeus]

To say she's impressed by this is an understatement. Echo had been led to believe by her parents that she was the only one questioning. Stop asking, swallow down the follies of the 'truth' until her cheeks puffed; if only she'd asked Norm ages ago, maybe she wouldn't have felt so alone about her unease.

Regardless, she plays it cool. "I assumed it was because 31 maybe had better schools. They're sure as heck the peppiest. But now that you say it... yeah, 33's never had a true overseer from the rest us, huh?"

At his statement she can't help but huff a humorless laugh. "Hey, at least you're not alone in the underperforming department. The only good marks I've ever gotten is In A Bind 101, and now I can finally shine. Two rejects of 33 makin' their way to the bottom of it all -- they'll never see it coming."

She waits patiently in front of Thirty Two's entrance, absently checking her pipboy. "How bad did it look before the clean up? I didn't ask."

[pipboygenius]

just because his father used to be the overseer doesn't mean norm hadn't noticed things the others hadn't. the whispers. the fact that every overseer came from 31. being inside 32 before the cover up had shown him just how dangerous it was and the fact that in a day they'd repainted, removed and destroyed all signs of death from it meant something big is at play. more than just a raider attack.

"never. i went back decades and every overseer was a transfer from 31. just the same in 32. it's like they're guaranteed the position of power." to what end? what was the goal of moving the dwellers just to put them into power?

they're both seen as disappointments to the vault. norm with his apathy for basically all tasks and echo for questioning everything. together, they could easily find out the answer. he tenses a little as the memories of skeletons, blood and the stench of decay returns to his senses.

"bad. they all killed either themselves or each other. we found some skeletons choking each other, someone stabbed a fork into a toaster and others were...hanging. it was horrible. but somehow betty and whoever helped her got the graffiti painted over, the bodies removed and the terminal erased. they left the corn since we knew about the famine. all a ploy to keep us quiet."

[hcartsleeved]

her   first   instinct   is   to   shoot   him   a   peace   sign   and   head   the   other   direction   —   it   was   self   preservation   and   she   needed   it   to   survive.   everyone   did.   but   just   as   she   dusted   off   her   pants   and   started   to   turn   around   she   froze,   a   nagging   feeling   tugging   at   her   chest.   she   wasn’t   hardened   like   that   —   not   yet.   she   could   still   be   good.            ‘   ​moldaver.   ’         she   repeats,   letting   out   a   sigh.            ‘   i   feel   like   maybe   i’ve   heard   that   name   get   tossed   around   a   bit,   but   —   not   by   folks   you   wanna   get   caught   up   with.   listen   —   i’ll   help   you,   but,   you   gotta   understand   —   i’m   not   gonna   die   for   you.   so   don’t   do   some   shit   that’s   gonna   get   me   killed.   cool?   ’

[pipboygenius]

people are staring at him and he knows that the vault suit isn't exactly subtle. the name makes the opposite happen. it's like saying her name has made him invisible. just how bad was this woman that even these surface dwellers were unable to entertain the thought? "cool. i'm just looking for my family. and answers. don't worry about getting into danger. i'm not brave enough to run headfirst into a firefight. useless with a gun at the best of times."

[savingthrcw]

"You couldn't stop digging, so you are a... brave chicken," she offered, "Mom... apparently figured out that someone was syphoning water from our Vault and from that she realized life was back on the surface and that she was being lied to. She dug, and then she took us away. We are both like her. We can both do this, I promise." Speaking of that reminded her of the water filter, though. Was the man living between the Vault and Filly still there?

"It's very... harsh. And people will keep telling you that there is no hope and there is no point in trying to do the right thing, and that we can only think about what's good for us if we want to survive... Don't believe them," she warned him, "We have to dirt our hands to survive, but we don't need to become like that. We can find people who are worth our trust here and there. We just need to be careful and build that trust first. Okay?" She had changed, but she had refused to change that much. "We are going to Fily for now... but before then, there is a house... There's a man who was sick and... well, sort of wanted to marry me, if he died we can use his place."

[pipboygenius]

"i'll take brave chicken." it is a concession he wouldn't make for anyone else but lucy. hearing about how his mother had done as he did warms his heart a little. she was smart. too smart. something he'd been warned about time and time again. had their father wondered if his son would follow in her footsteps? "you've learned a lot it seems in a short time." she's stronger. though, not happier. then again if the world is as bad as she's painted it he's not surprised.

norm didn't tell her that he'd been doing things for himself for a long time. his disinterest in everything despite how he should be helping the vault not just a general depression but due to a knowledge that it was a fruitless endeavour. he had started to suspect longer than even he had realised. the wedding that wasn't was the spark, however. "got it. please tell me you didn't sleep with this one. i know i said that your husband could be full of tumors but this isn't what i meant."

[synth-nick-valentine]

Nick lead norm to diamond city it was oddly peaceful....."welcome to diamond city norm we have an actual decent town "

[pipboygenius]

his eyes trace over the metallic structures and the amount of people milling around. a functional town which supposedly was meant to be nothing more than a crater if thirty-one was to be believed. "are there many like you here?"

[notimminent]

“an overseer’s son which obviously equates that you have never done anything against the rules, ever, of course.” she spoke as her fingers ran over the of the smooth surface of the wall next to the door, moving closer into the room the two now were occupying. this was how most of their interactions started, with her initiating whatever came to her mind to talk to him about, a smile always gracing her face. “ besides, even an overseer most likely tows lines from time to time. if not now, at least when they were our age. hecks becks, nor, perhaps our dad’s got up to antics when growing up in thirty-one. gotta experience rambunction to know how to deal with it. ”

making her way to the couch he was perched on, she plopped down with an exasperated hmph before turning to him, that same cheeky grin still lighting up her face, matching her impish shenanigans. “ i remember once crying because i thought i stole a history book from class to show my dad. had a quote i wanted to remember to ask him about, what with him loving history, and i hid in a cupboard. it was your sister who found me and brought me to my dad. i apparently didn’t understand borrowing and stealing weren’t synonymous. that is why i brought this to you, because you’re always my not usually present but there in spirit without knowing it partner in whatever happens. we’re around the same age, so we always stick together. so, okay, you’ve convinced me. ” despite having just sat down next to him, she stood to face him. “ if not stealing something, what should i do? something to cause mischief. ”

[pipboygenius]

they both knew he had. many times. there's a reason he's at the bottom of the food chain despite being the son of an overseer. he's smart, sure. but not motivated unless there is something worth doing. his father didn't tend to break the rules except when punishing his own children. norm is sure he should have had way more sanctions than he has in his life. "you think thirty-one has that kind of thing? they pride themselves as better than us. smarter. probably have zero crime over there besides who didn't hold the door for each other." not that he knew. thirty-one a carefully guarded secret even by those who had lived there.

it's a silly thing to worry about. a book being stolen could only be inside the vault. the doors never opening without prior authorisation and only between the interconnected vaults. she wouldn't have been able to hide it for long if it ever was an issue. "are you implying i'm a bad influence?" norm isn't insulted by it. more surprised. no one really notices him when lucy or his dad are around. "well, i heard they're making a huge cake for the upcoming wedding. could do something with that."

[savingthrcw]

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, and it felt so odd, so human, in a way she had tried not to be. But that was important, because before Moldaver everyone had lied to her about her father. "Listen, Norm... There is a lot you don't know. Politics and lies and shit, and if you get to your father he will lie to you about your mother too. Because he came and he killed her." Once upon a time, she had been Norm. "No matter what he says, no matter what anyone from the Vault may say to you: Rose loved you. She loved and Lucy and she would've kept you. She was a good mother and a good woman, and don't you let anyone tell you otherwise."

Lucy was a vaultie born and raised too, and was out her alone. It would be a miracle if they didn't find her in literal pieces. She was about to start walking again when he asked her that question - one no one could have asked, so very few knew where she came from, and even less would dare try asking once. "... Green," she answered after a moment, before shaking her head and starting to walk again. "Filled with animals that just waited for you to pet them. Horses. Dogs. You could drink water from anywhere without getting poisoned. There were homes and people and noise everywhere..." He thought his Vault was bad, he should wait until he learned about the others. "Oh, they were gonna let you out. After wiping the surface, no question. And tell you it had been like that all along."

[pipboygenius]

he had never felt so stupid in his life. the world clearly worked differently than the sanitised vault he'd known his whole life. except, not his whole life as apparently he'd been taken away from it. taken to a place that no longer existed. it's a lot to process. his father killed his mother. after claiming he loved her. after mourning her with his children. what the hell had happened? "lucy looks like her, apparently. she's mom's kid for sure." which could mean he is more his father than he'd like. the coward with a mind better than anyone else.

green. like their grass covered farms in the vault. though, not created through false means. "real horses? i've only seen them in some old holotapes dad made lucy and i watch about a cowboy. is all the water up here poisoned? the radiation isn't filtered out?" of course it wasn't. without a filtration system they'd not be able to clean it.

but clearly, the world was nowhere close to being wiped clean. so, would they require more bombs to be dropped before the door would have opened?

[secondsnctdecades]

little advice from someone who's been there? don't do the math. that equation does not exist. there's no "save five harlans for every two claires" formula. people like us, we will never save enough lives to make up for the ones that we take. independent five from tua spatial jumped by beck. (x)

[pipboygenius]

@notimminent asked: i intend to steal something, something very big.

"and you're telling me this why? i'm not exactly the stealing type." not counting holotapes of games, some files and some food from his sister's plate. "you do also realise that my dad is the overseer. if i wasn't apathetic to all that goes on in here i would be reporting it. as it is, i don't really care as long as it isn't mine."

[savingthrcw]

He didn't know anything at all about the surface yet. "If you get irradiated enough... you become a ghoul. You aren't dead-dead, not for a while, but without meds eventually the radiations take over and you go feral. It's not you, you are dead, it's just your body that keeps going in survival state. Your... ma, she skipped the middle part. Didn't suffer, at least." Shitty comfort, but she did hope her father had died just as quick. Hopefully not as a feral ghoul but just straight up gone, no more suffering.

Talking about life in the Vault would never cease to anger her, but for once she was talking to another victim, and that did help her not smash his head with a rock. "Wouldn't have been shit. They just couldn't get me to shut up about life before the bombs, 'cause I knew they were lying their asses off. My mother, the fucking devil, now she'd have made Overseer even before your dad if I hadn't been there fightin' her...It's why I'm out here. Your mother took you and Lucy out one day, and I went with her." She had held Norm in her arms too, while she took Lucy by hand, Rose and the three kids who had made it out. And there they all were now, again. "It wasn't even an experiment, you were all gonna be... ways for the 31s to reproduce and repopulate the Earth. Problem is... Earth was doing fine, so they made their best to keep destroying it until they'd be the only ones left. I don't think they were tryin to prove jackshit, they were just... they are just evil. Dear ol' mommy and your daddy first in line."

[pipboygenius]

a whole new lexicon of words he'd need to learn. something second nature to those who'd grown up in the wasteland but missed by the many people living in vaults. he'll start after coming to grips with the idea that his mother is or was a ghoul. irradiated and removed of all humanity and left a husk. how did people go on if those kinds of things existed. "but she's gone." he'd never get to hear her voice. to see her face to face. then again he supposes seeing her as she is will not be seeing her but what was left.

"you got to see a world before all this? what was that like?" she's probably been asked a million times but cut him some slack he's dealing with a lot. like the fact his mother is a ghoul, his father is evil and he had once lived outside of a vault. "we were nothing but cattle. they always told us we were going to repopulate but the day never seemed to come. would they have ever let us out?" he doubts it. would make sense to keep them all trapped. "we have to find lucy."