(http://i.imgur.com/uLDgC.jpg?1)
Good morning Vault Dweller! Today is May 6th 2280, 203 years, 6 months, and 13 days since the Vault was sealed. At the tone the time will be 7 : 45.
There are no notices from Vault Security this morning! There is one notice from the Overseer this morning! Copies of the Vault 9 Messenger will be available at noon; today's feature article is Elvis: The Devil in Disguise?, a point/counterpoint argument between Dr. Pamela Green, Ph.D and Miss Cecelia Irvine, ed.
>Notice from the Overseer:
Good morning Vault 9ians! Just a reminder that I will be out of my office from ten until one to speak at the Level 2 School, all appointments have been rescheduled so make sure to check your terminals.
Thanks,
Mal
There is ONE message for the Chief of Security
> Cohee's memo
Hey Nov, I was wondering if you could send a team down here for some spring cleaning. My girls've just about won't go into Reactor Two because the damn thing's full of radroaches! If you can send down a coupla officers to clear it out, my people'll figure out where the hell they're coming from. See you soonest,
Nev
Quest: Stompin' at the Savoy
There are TWO messages for Adeleine Freeman:
>Dr. Mccowen's note
Adeleine,
Don't bother coming into the clinic today, I've got a special assignment for you; report to Chief Cohee in Maintenance at nine. When she's finished with you take the rest of the day off.
Good luck sweetie,
Dr. D
Quest: See the woman at...
>Cohee's request
Hey Doc,
Look forward to seein' you tomorrow morning! Make sure to bring your waders!
Chief Cohee
Quest: All's well in the well
Thread Start!
Upon hearing the alarm clock on her Pip-Boy going off, Adeleine woke up to the familiar surroundings of her bedroom; a well-worn twin-sized bed which she was lying on, a bookshelf on the northern wall of the room filled with medical books and some old comic books, and a desk against the eastern wall, next to the door; with some assorted notes set atop it.
Still feeling tired, she turned off the alarm clock and decided to go to the cafeteria to get a cup of coffee
Umeko finishes putting on her shoes as she hears her mother calling her. "UME-CHAAAN! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" She rolls her eyes as she thinks to herself, "YOU'RE the one who got up 15 minutes ago, Okasan." She grumbles as she leaves her section of the room, through the curtain put up. She and her mother shuffle off to Cafeteria 1. En route, her mother looks at her and asks, "Did you rememeber your textbook?"
Umeko turns a slight pink at her rushed embarrasment. She shakes her head and runs back towards the living quarters. As she is dashing through the halls, she bumps into someone.
A small alarm sounds, marking the beginning of Nova Fuller's day. Throwing aside the covers, she groggily lifts herself out of bed, puts on her glasses and shuffles over to a pile of clothes setting on a nearby chair. Finding a relatively clean jumpsuit and her favorite pair of boots amid the mess, she slips them on; giving a glance in the mirror, she combs her short hair with her fingers a few times, returning some semblance of order to the disheveled bed-head.
Leaving her quarters, Nova pauses for a moment. She briefly considers skipping breakfast, but decides against it - she was never fond of having a meal so early in the day, but she knew she'd feel like hell come lunchtime if she didn't get some food now. As she turns to head to Cafeteria #1, a youngish-looking girl suddenly bumps into her, taking her by surprise.
Officer Simcoe is typing away at the Security Office's main terminal, recording the night shift's activities for Chief Fuller to read when she got in. Nothing much; a public intoxication charge for Engineer Hartford and a use of force report from Officer Giannecchini. The girl had smashed a rat with her baton while checking out the concert hall. Officer Rudisill is sitting rigidly at her desk, waiting to begin her shift.
Overseer Heckert is reviewing the divisional status reports as they come into her office before going to speak to the children. Or maybe there's a camel asleep on the couch. It can be kind of hard to tell sometimes.
Ume looks up to the young woman with the brown hair. A look of panic streaks over her face, which she follows up by backing away in one quick motion and bowing repeatedly, saying over and over, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"It's okay," Nova replies, blushing at the girl's profuse apology. Getting a better look at her face, she realizes that she's somewhat familiar; but she can't put a name or place to her face. "Well, I have to get going - my shift starts soon and I still need to get breakfast. Have a good morning." With a nod, Nova turns and continues on her way to Cafeteria 1.
Adeleine continues down the hall, arriving at the cafeteria, as she stood in line behind a young, brown-haired woman. "I really need to adjust my sleep schedule" she said to herself, while waiting to reach the coffee maker
Ume blushes in shame, lingering a moment before running back to her quarters to get her book.
book in tow, Umeko starts off again towards Alice's Kitchen, attempting to run, but winded from the trip before. Checking her watch, she sees that it is already 8am. Doing her best not to faint, she picks up speed, hoping not to miss breakfast.
Cat is sleeping. Sleeping tight, and making motions much like her namesake. Upon the alarm going off, she promptly vaults off the bed, startled, and lands on the cold floor on all fours.
After a few seconds of holding that pose and trying to remember what the hell is going on she curses her wild imagination once again, doubly curses whoever thought it was a wise idea to give her the job of toting the guns this time of year, when she has so much proper work to do. She holsters the clunky gun and leaves her room.
She taps a few buttons on her Pip-Boy to access the radio transmitter, and sends a message to her recently acquired chief officer - just in case the security department suffers from lack of things to do today (fat chance, but who knows) so she can spend some time down in her labcoat.
>Good morning chief.
>Kindly provide today's schedule.
>In case we're off duty I'd like to take some time for myself in the lab sector.
>If not, see you at mess hall.
>//CC
>.
>.
>.
> END MESSAGE
With that done, she starts trotting down the hallway toward the fooditorium.
Having scarfed down her breakfast and a large cup of black coffee, Nova jogged out of the cafeteria and made her way to the Security Office. Entering, she greets her coworkers. "Good morning Officer Simcoe, Rudisill," she says, before taking a seat behind her desk, "have you got those night shift reports for me?"
Upon finally getting everything, Adeleine sat down to breakfast; the coffee helping to wake her up, before moving onto the cheese omelet and glass of orange juice
Simcoe nods, pointing at the terminal in front of her, "Just finished ma'am."
Rudisill nearly breaks her back trying to straighten up more, "Good morning Chief!"
Umeko speeds into the cafeteria just as the Pip-Boy reads 8:10. Her mother calls out to her in front of everyone, causing Umeko to slow her pace and lower her head, blushing slightly. Looking at the table, it seems that her mother had already gotten her breakfast: a grapefruit half, a cup of tea, and the bland sticky rice porridge that they had every morning. At least she had remembered to grab a few packets of honey this time; Ume's mother always ate her jook plain, and was confused by the idea that her daughter didn't do the same. Umeko squeezed every last drop out of the packets as she stirred the jook, gulping it down in as few bites as possible. Halfway through the grapefruit, she glanced at the Pip-Boy, only to find it was already 8:25; even leaving now she was going to be late. She drank her tea in one gulp, painful as it was, and shouted back to her mother as she ran, "Mata Ne!!"
Having consumed her daily morning intake of ORGASM (Organically Re-Generating Adequate Substitute for Meat) and PotatoFlvrd(tm) shards with a full pitcher of tea, she checks her PipBoy's message box.
>Today is May 6th 2280, and the time is 8:15.
>You have no new messages.
"So much for that," she mutters, and starts wandering in the direction of the Security Office. "Does she not have a tone on that thing or something?"
Umeko skids to a stop right in front of the classroom, just as the bell begins to sound. She rushes to her desk as the chatter of schoolgirls fills the air. She breathes a sigh of relief as she sets her Big Book of Science on the desk. She checks the time on her Pip-Boy, 8:31. As she is about to settle in, she feels a hand on her shoulder; she turns sharply to find the teacher, her only friend, staring down at her with a frown. Umeko cringes, expecting detention for being late, to which the teacher offers a smile and a wink. The teacher makes her way to the front of the class.
"Good Morning, Students!"
"Good Morning, Ms. Averill!"
"As you know, there is an assembly this afternoon. The Overseer has decided to pay us a visit, so be on your best behaviour, girls!
Some giggles and snickers permeate the room along with many "Yes, Ms. Averill"s.
Umeko looks down at her desk. She's excited about the assembly, no doubt. After all, what could the Overseer have to say to the students of Vault 9? She must be so busy, to take time out of her schedule like this.
But in a way, Umeko is dissapointed. She hates sitting with the other girls, the ones who mock her for her weird name, weird speech, weird shoes. Even the other kids who belong to the Nihon Kyoudai shun her, mostly for being a nerd. All they want to do is goof off and insult the other girls in a language they can't understand. It makes them feel important to be able to do that.
Umeko shifts her gaze to the ceiling tiles, breathing a sigh as she hopes that Ms. Averill won't mind her sitting next to her again.
"Overseer."
"Overseer."
"MAL!"
Malinda nearly fell off the couch; at the last minute she managed to grab onto the backrest. However, that wasn't enough to prevent the stack of computer printouts on her belly from coating the floor in a new layer of paper. Looming over her was the familiar face of Trixie, number one assistant to the overseer and coincidentally number one interrupter of naps. Mal blinked sleepily, "Mwuh?"
"Where are you supposed to be at 10 o'clock ma'am?"
The Overseer considered the question, examining it for tricks before replying, "....brunch?"
In a flash, the gray haired administrative assistant had hoisted her boss upright, straightened her jumpsuit, and handed her several notecards from the night before outlining her speech to...
She stifles a yawn, "Oh right! 'supposed to talk to the kids today."
"Get going!"
After finishing her breakfast, Adeleine set off for the Maintenance department to meet up with Chief Cohee; hoping she isn't running late
Nova moves over to the terminal to read the night shift reports. She is halfway through when suddenly pauses, her focus shifting away from the wall of softly glowing green text in front of her and to her coworkers. "Have you heard from Officer Crovan today?"
Cat, having just softly closed the door behind her as she hears her name mentioned, takes a few light steps up to her chief. Then, to avenge her fallen comrade Secret Lab Fun, she puts her head an inch beside the preoccupied Nova's ear, whispering breathily.
"Did you need me for something?"
Seeing her reading messages at the terminal, however, she frowns. "And what is the matter with you people and not receiving messages on your Pip-Boys? It's not even hard to set up, you're just neglecting your duties!" She harrumphs heartily and sits down at a desk with a second pot of tea that she's brought with her. Nobody's going to miss it anyway. Probably.
Despite hearing her sidle up, Nova startled at Cat's whisper. Swiveling her seat, she turned to face the redhead, who'd since departed to her own desk. "Messages?" she asked, checking her Pip-Boy, "When did you send- wait, never mind. Sorry about that, Crovan." she blushed and gave a small chuckle.
Cat nods briefly as she gulps down another cup of tea. "Yea, yea. Just- put a tone on that damn thing, would you? The functionality is pretty amazing, but it's heartily annoying when you can't use it just because nobody else is."
Sliding her chair a bit closer to Nova, she looks her in the eye. "So now that we're here wo-mano-e-wo-mano... Today's schedule. What we got?"
Ms. Averill's lectures are always interesting to Umeko, with her love and curiosity of science. However, she can't seem to focus this morning, with the assembly weighing on her mind. She fidgets in her desk, gaze darting around the room. 'What is this bad feeling I'm having.....?' She thought with a looming sense of unease.
"Umeko? Umeko!"
"Eh!?"
"The answer to question 3." Ms. Averill said with a small chuckle. The other girls stared, most snickering. Umeko turned a reddish-pink.
"T-two hundred fourty-three....."
Arriving in the maintenance department, Adeleine finds she's there a bit early; as nobody else was down there yet. She then sits around and waits; wishing she had brought a book to help pass the time.
"Yeah yeah, I'll make sure the tone is turned on from now on. As for the schedule ..." Nova frowns and fidgets in her seat a bit, before averting her eyes from Cat's intense gaze. She just couldn't bring herself to tell her that - in the midst of last night's preoccupation and her late start this morning - she hadn't arranged one.
The science lecture this morning was interesting. However, Umeko just couldn't focus. Had she drank Okasan's coffee again by mistake? Just as she was getting self-concious, an announcement came over the school's intercom:
"ALL STUDENTS PLEASE FILE TO THE GYM."
"Alright class, be on your best behaviour!" Ms. Averill said as the class got up and shuffled out of the classroom. Umeko hung back as usual, not wanting to get caught up in the crowd.