"You're right... I know...", admits Agnes, still standing as close to her dad as possible. "I went through the people. There are a lot of bodies. A lot." It is clear she wanted to continue without stopping, but couldn't suppress shivering in discomfort, the thought quite obviously almost making her cry again. "A-and, well, if we are the only ones, we really can't. We can't, I've looked at it and it doesn't work, and if we leave, we can't preserve it well enough. But I don't want our customs, our culture to die just 'cause we were forced out!"

Defiantly, she shook her head and crossed her arms, even if it made quite the pathetic image, what with her obviously completely distraught face and already not physically imposing form. "Now I agree with the not-killing because I don't want my daddy to die but you all talk of the other half of that practice we've been raised on like it's some kind of barbaric cruelty! L-last I checked, we did it to honour the dead. So why... why stop now? Yes, here it is necessity, but when we have the opportunity again, when there is less death again..." She stopped talking and moved to lean against a wall for support. "Let's just... let's just leave... I really don't want to see all the faces of my goodneighbours any more... I don't care what's out there, the damage is done."

"I didn't say it was anything of the kind," said Ruby, quietly. "I said we couldn't do it. I never said we shouldn't eat the dead. Just that there are too many and we can't possibly."

"I know we should. But we can't. They will ... I hope they would understand."

Tony looked to Ruby (@Jorimel) with a bit of surprise. Even at this moment, he figured he was going when he hit 40. Even after everything that happened to the Vault. He figured he was still going to be sacrificed for the good of the Vault. To say he wasn't looking forward to it would have been understatement of the century.

He hadn't expected the girl to pipe up in the conversation, let alone say something like that. So he found himself kind of dumbstruck at the moment. But the he started to smile and shake his head out of disbelief.

"Well...that's a nice sentiment Ruby, but I'm not that important admittingly. I mean, I help maintain a Vault we might just completely abandon. Besides, those are stories your parents told you Rube, we don't know if that's true. We have no living proof that people can live that long. If it's my time to go, then that's that. Doesn't matter what I know, doesn't matter how much I could help. As much as I...appreciate that you think that way...and as much as I don't want too die myself, it's not my decision."

He looked to his daughter after her outburst. She looked like she was the verge of tears. Truth be told, he didn't give a shit about the Vaults traditions. They could die with the Vault for all he cared. But he didn't realize how important they were to Aggy. He put an arm around her shoulders to calm her down.

"It's okay Aggy." He said looking at her with a smile, "she didn't mean to offend. She just wanted to speak her mind. Hell, I kinda hope she's right that people live past forty. It'd give me the time to continue to watch after you. Watch you grow and live your life. How happy I'd be to have that opportunity."

--- Before Exodus ---
Darwin had helped with the clean up in his own way. Helping to remove the Vault occupants bodies to designated areas, but outsider corpses was another matter. Once the others had finished with the ghoulish work of seeing to the dead, Beagles absconded with two of the raider corpses, one male and one female.
In what remained of the clinic, Darwin ran tests upon the bodies and studied the contents of their pockets. An odd assortment of stolen chems, nuka cola bottle caps, and a metal can of Cram. The clothing were a combination of leather pieces, harnesses and cloth long johns. A quick check of his pip-boy geiger counter told him that the cram and raiders contained low level radiation. With a loud *click* Darwin began.
"Fascinating discoveries. Evidence of the surface still irradiated from the Great War. Thankfully it has gone down to livable levels, further testing to confirm required. Judging by subject's apparel, they were not equipped for long travel and survive solely on pillaging. Such behavior would only be tolerated in an anarchy state, so it's safe to assume an organized government has yet to be established upon the surface. Added note, the collecting of bottle caps appears to be a shared habit by both subjects and their fellow outsiders. Perhaps it's a custom exclusive to them or it could be used to show monetary value. I've decided to entertain this theory, as their is no pattern to how many are carried and the female with leather carried far more than the male in long johns. Darwin's Log, surface anthropology case 1. Signing off." Finishing, surviving nurse Beagle clicks off his holo-recorder. Having decided to document his findings, and hopefully be of help to the other dwellers of Vault 41.
'I wonder if what they said is true. That we should leave the vault for the surface. Maybe we'd come back to the vault someday, or our children... I wonder if this is how the first dwellers thought their descendants would turn out? Would they cower in a broken vault or would they want us to live on the surface? Mom, Dad, what would you do?' Darwin Beagles thought, alone in the clinic. A coffee pot sat simmering on a hot pad, it's contents long gone.
--- Still Before Exodus, but Closer In Time ---
Darwin took the news as well as any. First the stages of paralyzing fear, bartering with people who weren't there, anger, and finally logical acceptance. They couldn't stay, there was simply too few of them to hold the vault and eventually the mirelurk population would be too big to live besides.
'If I had only completed my research, I could have tamed the beasts to guard the vault for us... That's an idea.' Stuck by inspiration, Darwin set off for his quarters to collect his supplies and something else. A few items he collected after the attack, nail gun x1, chemistry set, mirelurk pheromone samples x3, stim-pack x3, purified water x5, coffee pot, ground coffee tin, coffee cup, hot pad and the emergency supply bag to carry it all in. Besides that, Darwin found some paint and a large board. After a few minutes of work and only minor paint spills, Darwin produced a sign reading;
Danger! Keep Away!
Radioactive Crab Mutants!
'That should keep out some of the scavengers, in theory anyway.' Happy with his work, Beagles set out to meet with the rest of the the Vault survivors with sign in hand.
If they did leave, it would be their first time on the surface. The thought made Darwin hold the sign tightly. The only clothes he had on besides his Vault 41 jumpsuit was a lab coat, a salvaged raider leather chest harness, and a vault security helmet. In the hopes that the visor would better protect against the light of the sun. The bag of equipment and supplies slung over his shoulder. Ready to face the unknown and maybe make something better out of it. @Jorimel @Casavay @GobMaw_HellSmasha
On the way Darwin notices Ruby and the Larux family. They appeared to be arguing about vault life expectancy and food rations. "What seems to be the trouble here? Last I checked Mr. Larux, your wounds healed quiet well. So I'll have none of this talk of dying, not while Ruby and I are around. There's been enough of that recently. Have you heard the news? They say we're leaving the Vault. Before we did, I had an idea for keeping outsiders away from the vault even if we leave." Holding up his sign, Darwin allowed them to take in his work. "What do you think? Wanna bet outsiders hate Mirelurks as much as we do? And this way if we leave we may just have some supplies waiting for us. Maybe we should hide stashes while we're at it? What do you think?"

For trendiest time in a while Jace let out a genuine laugh, "I love it Darwin,, now let's just hope those savages up there are literate enough to understand it." He said as his laughter died away. He was glad he had changed the subject. Jace felt bad about... Well, not feeling bad about eating their dead. It was s hallowed tradition, to honor them. Was he really that callous? No, if they really cared for us, they'd understand. Right? We gotta survive for them.. He tried to reason with himself. He was disturbed with how easily he brushed off the honoring of the dead. He hoped they'd forgive him. "I'll help hide whatever you think we should, but then we need to get out of here."

Darwin beamed with pride at Jace's support of his idea. It had taken him almost two months to prepose his Mirelurk testing to Dr. Roman, the previous Vault lead physician. The attack and stress of the recent days had embolden him try new things. Some adapted well under pressure, and some did not. Hiding slightly behind his sign, mostly to conceal his reddening face. He had an image to maintain. Darwin cleared his throat before he spoke;
"Thank you Jace, I hope it helps. As for storage we've left not much behind and the raiders who got away made off with the rest. I'd think locking all the rooms should suffice. The bigger problem we'll have is the Mirelurks when we get back. They'll eat anything they can find, plenty of that with the bodies. In my research, I've found they'll eat both fresh and decomposed flesh. They'll bust down walls with enough time to get to our dead. We best seal them in rooms with low value, but near areas of importance to fend off raiders. That would make good use of the bodies as best we can. Though I'm always partial to jerky. But that would add time to our departure. I voted to burn the raiders. I found them in poor health and with low levels of radiations. We best store up on stims and rad-x. At least those are my expert opinions."

"It's a good plan, Mr Beagles," said Ruby, still not really getting the hang of first names for superiors. It would come in time. "I think we could try caching some things, but we don't know when we'd be back for them. Perhaps we'd better just take what we can and ... and go."

She took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, though this one was less one of sadness and more - the simply huge nature of the everything that lay before her. Literally everything except the few people she now stood beside had changed.

"We should also make sure we don't spend too much time in the sun," she said. "When plants in the grow-pods are too close to the lights, they get burnt patches. We don't want to suffer the same."

"Should we wait till its night to make our leave?" He suggested, then shaking his head, dismissing his own idea, "no, no that's not a great idea. We don't know what could possibly outside, and we don't know if there's anything that could be nocturnal...and carnivorous. No, I'd rather be able to see what's outside then wander out blind during the night."

He stayed over near Agnes, continuing to shield her, as if it was just instinctual for him. He wasn't sure if there was any way to be possibly ready for everything on the outside. The best they could hope for was being aware that anything was possible at this point, and that they had enough supplies to survive the best they could. He wasn't even sure if they would be able to make a new home for themselves, but he'd give it his all to make sure they had a fighting chance at surviving out there.

"Well, should we get going or not, the outside isn't going to spontaneously become a sprawling metropolis any time soon. Why wait it out any longer?"

"An excellent point, Ms. Lee. The sun will indeed be a great challange for our unexposed eyes. But I have an idea. Maybe if we take a few photos with the flash set to maximum our eyes will be better prepared for the UV light. Does anyone have a cammera? Would also be good to have... For sentimental purposes. Eh?" Darwin suggests, taking note of Ruby's distress.

"Remembering that we still have individual duties and skills, you'll be relied upon far more than before. Why don't we scout out what's beyond the vault? A small group is better for seeing danger without attracting it and then the rest can follow. After all, we have to set up my sign." Darwin preposed for the restless Tony. Knowing he owed him for his life, even if he still leaned towards suicidal bravery.
'He still has somethings to fight for. Let's give him a little direction.' Beagles mused.

Jace hesitated for moment before speaking, he wanted to help as best he could and he knew his senses were better than most, making him an ideal scout. But to leave the vault in a small group was asking for a quick and gruesome death. But everyone else had pulled their weight up to this point, it was time to pull his, "If we need a scout, I'll volunteer myself Mr. Beagles. I'm not much good at lifting or moving stuff around, but I can sniff out danger better than most. Sides it's best to risk someone with not as much... Strategic value." Although Tony didn't seem to know it, he would be important to the group with his mechanical knowledge, and Agnes needed him. He looked down to the dog that had stuck around, "Hey buddy, wanna take walk outside?" Just saying that word felt unnatural. (@Colapse )