At The Precipice Of Something New

Something Above

Diamond City
August the 24th, 2288
17:22

Having spent the better part of fifteen years working as the personal secretary to one Nicholas Julius Valentine, Eleanor Perkins knew full well she would often be asked to find or procure strange things.

Information on the Glowing Sea, however, was not one she had ever anticipated; not after being asked to find an unusual type of alcohol (which Solomon and Vadim ultimately helped her find), not after being asked if she knew how to light a stove (which she did), and not even after being asked if she could fix up a coat with a metal toothpick for a sewing needle (which went better than expected). After spending two weeks trying to find a map of the Glowing Sea and finding nothing, she asked (read: begged) Myrna to find her a detailed map of the Commonwealth from before the War. Though not thrilled about it, when given a hundred caps, Myrna did find and bring her a set of maps of the pre-War Commonwealth before grouchily telling her to leave her be. Staring at them now, taped down to her desk and taped onto the walls, she collapsed into her desk chair, staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. Nick on one side and Nora on the other, she awkwardly smiled at them when she sat back up. It was becoming almost a routine. Satisfied she was alright, Nick walked over to one of his many overflowing filing cabinets and began looking for what little information he had managed to nab over the years about the Commonwealth's most inhospitable locale. Nora, frustrated by staring at the same maps for the better part of three days, instead sat down on the stairs going up into the apartments, tiredly resting her head in her hands.

It all, she worried, was beginning to feel nearly hopeless and, therefore, pointless.

"Wish the Railroad had been able to help you two more with this," Ellie hesitantly said, standing up to take a closer look at the map on her desk. "You'd think they'd know if an Institute scientist left, wouldn't they? If only because they'd want to talk to them, without letting them know they're part of the Railroad, of course."

"They knew a decent bit about the Institute," Nora said, shaking out her hair. "But I...I agree. All of them apart from Hadley were...I have no idea if they want to help me or just help themselves. Hadley seemed terrified of saying some things in front of them, too, and terrified of something happening to her kids and Piper if they knew about the Railroad and her involvement. But honestly? I'm glad she didn't tell me about them from the offset. I either wouldn't have believed it or been even more suspicious of it."

"Hadley is certainly the most concerned for you, which is good," Nick noted. "I was taken aback by her demeanour, though. She's always been a bit paranoid but the way she seemed desperate not to let on how much she's going to help you even if it breaks their protocols? And it also seems she's got something else tormenting her these days. Derek is going to be worried sick when he finds out she's started smoking. But that's neither here nor there. For us, the issue of finding Virgil remains."

"No kidding," Nora swore under her breath. "How are we supposed to find one person in near hell when the only thing we know is they went there?"

"How is a question I'm still stuck on too. All of this, it's far from ideal," Nick said, continuing to thumb through file after file. "Not to mention the amount of planning necessary for something this dangerous. I don't even have to worry about radiation and it makes me nervous. Guess the Institute making me a synth is good for a few more things than I thought."

Ellie glanced at him, almost amused. "You keep laughing at death in the face, one of these days, death is going to laugh back."

"Don't worry about me," Nick said, turning to her with a smile. "This is partially a waiting game, too," He said, his face falling at the thought. "Not to say the Glowing Sea is ever...safe, long term, without a lot of luck and good shelter, but it gets a lot easier to navigate after mid-October."