World On Fire: A Skyrim/Fallout Crossover

Chapter 4: Anything Goes

Torunn

This land may look like crap, but it's drinks aren't half bad.

Cat and I were sitting in the town's inn, drinking a strange brown drink with bubbles inside it. I read the inscription on the side of the bottle.

"Nuka-Cola." I read aloud. I took a sip, and cringed from the weird feeling it left. "Is it supposed to feel... tingly?"

Cat did a faint smile, but it quickly went away. "That would be the carbonation. Either that or the radiation, but I prefer to think of it as the former."

I frowned, still unclear on it. "I have no idea what either of those are. What's 'carb-or-ation'?"

Cat let out a slight sigh of frustration. "It's 'carbon-ation'. I'm thinking maybe we get you a physics book or something. Moira might have one lying around..." with that, she took a swig of her drink.

I was about to ask what radiation was exactly until I heard someone from the other room that sounded like he spent his free time gargling shards of glass.

"I was only gone for a minute, boss. It wasn't long."

"You think I'm paying you to take breaks? We have thirsty customers back there. You do this again, and I'll send your ass back to the Wastes myself."

"Ugh... yes boss."

Out of the room came something I wasn't expecting. Cat must have sensed my tension, since she put her hand on my shoulder reassuringly.

"He's not like the ones you've met." She said to me.

Standing at the bar in front of us was something that looked like a draugr in normal clothes. Well, normal for this land. His skin looked like it was rotting, most of his hair gone except for a few strands scattered randomly on his grotesque head.

He looked at me with what I assumed was a look of disgust, which seemed somewhat hypocritical to me.

"What's the matter, smoothskin?" It asked accusingly. "Never seen a ghoul before?"

I was about to answer, but Cat covered my mouth before I could say anything.

"Sorry, Gob. She's had a pretty rough day. Nothing personal."

Once he left, I looked over at Cat. She leaned over to me and whispered "He's a bit sensitive. Try not to talk about, you know..."

I couldn't take it anymore. I had no idea what was happening, who these people are, or even where I am.

"Alright Cat, here's the deal. You wanna know about me, and I wanna know about this place."

She looked at me curiously. "You want to take turns answering questions?"

"Please" I said desperately. After thinking for a bit, she finally nodded.

"Alright. You first." She responded, taking another swig of her drink.

"Right. So, what is this place?"

She looked confused. "This place? We're in Moriarty's saloon. The sign was in the front, I thought you saw it."

I shook my head. "No, I mean this land. What is it called? Where is it at on a map? I've never seen anything like it before."

She had a slight look of surprise, but stopped herself once again. "Wow, okay. Um, well, the town we're in is called Megaton, one of the few pockets of civilization in the Capitol Wasteland. Ringing any bells?"