[The world had gone to shit and it'd gotten better. It'd done both at the same time. Mostly though, it'd gone to shit. Kavinsky considered himself lucky to have survived with his boys but he knew there were plenty of other people who weren't as fortunate. Aglionby graduates had been guaranteed a spot in Henrietta's vault, which he hadn't even known had existed until a few days before the announcement.
But they'd needed vaults for a very important reason; the third world war. It'd been sparked by the existence of Dreamers. As a Dreamer himself, he felt like he should have done something to help but he also hadn't wanted to bet his survival against nuclear weapons.
To back it up even farther, to the very beginning, he'd survived the Fourth of July. Skov had pulled him down from his car when Lynch had done nothing. Skov had talked sense into him and convinced him to give continued living a try. Kavinsky owed a lot to him. Though his dragon had died in the fight against Ronan's night horror, it wouldn't be the last dragon he dreamed up.
After graduating Aglionby with the rest of his boys, he'd taken a solo road trip to try and clear his head. He needed it after Lynch had fucking ghosted him after the Fourth of July. For some stupid reason or another, Kavinsky was still head over heels in love with him despite everything. But he had Prokopenko in his life and his dream was- well, a dream. Perfect and wonderful and for a while he was enough. It was a good thing Proko hadn't gone with Kavinsky on his road trip though; the Moderators tracked him down. Dreamerkillers who wanted nothing more than to see him dead. He'd dreamed a new, better dragon to deal with them, one that didn't hate him.
With the Moderators eliminated, he'd gone back to Henrietta with his dragon, keeping it hidden from everyone except his boys. It hadn't been long after that that chaos had broken out. Ley lines had started waking up, the world had started to change, and dreamers rose up against those who wanted them dead. Old dreams started to wake up, some of them kind and gentle, some of them dangerous and aggressive. Of course, all of that had led to another war.
Which was why people were ushered into vaults to be able to survive the nuclear weapons and the fallout that would follow. The best and the brightest were guaranteed spots in the vaults. Boys from Aglionby, people attending prestigious universities like Harvard, scientists, engineers, etc and so forth. The rest of the population had a raffle for any leftover spots, which went over as well as one would imagine. The cryogenic technology was good though and everyone who made it into a vault was frozen for the next two hundred years. Meanwhile, nature was left to twist and warp from the fallout, humans turning into ghouls, animals mutating into monsters, plants twisting into strange versions of what they'd once been.
After those two hundred years passed, the first round of survivors from the vaults were awakened to try and rebuild the world, setting up towns and recreating lost technologies. Fifty years later, Kavinsky and the rest of the vault survivors were automatically awakened by the settings on their cryochambers.
With most of the dangerous radiation gone, the world was left a mess. Henrietta had been partially rebuilt though thanks to the efforts of those who'd been awakened fifty years previously, and most surprisingly, the Kavinsky mansion still stood. The rest of the neighborhood didn't fair as well but there was a house here and there that had escaped total destruction.
Kavinsky hadn't wasted much time dreaming up solutions to the problems he faced. The Moderators were no more and dreamers could be a precious resource, though one not everyone was eager to trust. He turned his mansion into a home for his pack, setting it up with dreamt electricity and running water, sharing some of his dreamed objects with people in town who didn't treat him like a thug or a monster.
He also made sure to dream up security and defenses for the mansion- not because he was that worried about other people but because he was worried about the creatures. He dreamed a dragon-dog to guard the house in addition to his dragon from the summer the Moderators had attacked him, which had survived somehow (he didn't know how but he wasn't going to question it).
Some of his boys helped out where they could. Swan helped in the fields to aid in growing food. Jiang lended a hand cooking here and there when he could. Skov assisted with patrols of the town to make sure ghouls or other nasties hadn't crept in. Proko- Proko spent most of his free time racing down the empty streets, but so did Kavinsky. They were alike in that way.
Things were rough sometimes, especially when it came to food and clothes, but they all managed to make do. There was always something to do, something to keep them busy. It wasn't as bad as it could have been; they were all alive and together, K's boys. He didn't have to rage against the world alone.
The neighborhood was dark at night but Kavinsky's place was always lit up, a beacon in the blackness. All of his boys were in, the driveway crammed with cars, and they were drinking and laughing, having a good time. Skov and Jiang were roughhousing while the other three watched like it was a sporting event. Eventually, though, Kavinsky realized someone was at the door. Not because he heard knocking but because his still-unnamed dragon-dog was barking its head off outside.
Putting his drink down, he slipped away from Proko on the couch and went to answer the door. He opened it, expecting to see someone from town, someone needing a favor, not- Lynch. His heart and stomach both lurched. For a moment he felt numb, then the surprise and other emotions slid in. Kavinsky hadn't talked to Lynch since the Fourth of July, hadn't seen him since- fuck, he didn't even know when.
His dragon-dog was in the driveway, a healthy distance away from the other dreamer, and its barking had dissolved into low, menacing growls. The security system around the mansion was designed to keep out monsters and ghouls, not people. That was what the dog was for, to deter and potentially attack anyone who meant them harm.
Kavinsky was staring. He hadn't known Lynch was still alive, didn't know what'd happened with Parrish and Bryde and Hennessy and everyone else. Didn't know that Lynch was more or less responsible for starting this war. Didn't know that he'd slept under Ilidorin's roots, the magic of the ley line and the great tree protecting and preserving him all of this time. Two hundred and fifty years. Two hundred and fifty years and Lynch had found his way back here to show up on Kavinsky's doorstep- for what reason? He looked good, not wasteland-wanderer-chic but- he looked like himself. A little older than the last time Kavinsky had seen him.
He was still staring. Finally, he rearranged his face into a sneer, trying to play it off like he wasn't as affected by Lynch's arrival as he really was.]
The fuck are you doing here? I thought you were dead.
TRC/Fallout-ish thing. cw: war and stuff
But they'd needed vaults for a very important reason; the third world war. It'd been sparked by the existence of Dreamers. As a Dreamer himself, he felt like he should have done something to help but he also hadn't wanted to bet his survival against nuclear weapons.
To back it up even farther, to the very beginning, he'd survived the Fourth of July. Skov had pulled him down from his car when Lynch had done nothing. Skov had talked sense into him and convinced him to give continued living a try. Kavinsky owed a lot to him. Though his dragon had died in the fight against Ronan's night horror, it wouldn't be the last dragon he dreamed up.
After graduating Aglionby with the rest of his boys, he'd taken a solo road trip to try and clear his head. He needed it after Lynch had fucking ghosted him after the Fourth of July. For some stupid reason or another, Kavinsky was still head over heels in love with him despite everything. But he had Prokopenko in his life and his dream was- well, a dream. Perfect and wonderful and for a while he was enough. It was a good thing Proko hadn't gone with Kavinsky on his road trip though; the Moderators tracked him down. Dreamerkillers who wanted nothing more than to see him dead. He'd dreamed a new, better dragon to deal with them, one that didn't hate him.
With the Moderators eliminated, he'd gone back to Henrietta with his dragon, keeping it hidden from everyone except his boys. It hadn't been long after that that chaos had broken out. Ley lines had started waking up, the world had started to change, and dreamers rose up against those who wanted them dead. Old dreams started to wake up, some of them kind and gentle, some of them dangerous and aggressive. Of course, all of that had led to another war.
Which was why people were ushered into vaults to be able to survive the nuclear weapons and the fallout that would follow. The best and the brightest were guaranteed spots in the vaults. Boys from Aglionby, people attending prestigious universities like Harvard, scientists, engineers, etc and so forth. The rest of the population had a raffle for any leftover spots, which went over as well as one would imagine. The cryogenic technology was good though and everyone who made it into a vault was frozen for the next two hundred years. Meanwhile, nature was left to twist and warp from the fallout, humans turning into ghouls, animals mutating into monsters, plants twisting into strange versions of what they'd once been.
After those two hundred years passed, the first round of survivors from the vaults were awakened to try and rebuild the world, setting up towns and recreating lost technologies. Fifty years later, Kavinsky and the rest of the vault survivors were automatically awakened by the settings on their cryochambers.
With most of the dangerous radiation gone, the world was left a mess. Henrietta had been partially rebuilt though thanks to the efforts of those who'd been awakened fifty years previously, and most surprisingly, the Kavinsky mansion still stood. The rest of the neighborhood didn't fair as well but there was a house here and there that had escaped total destruction.
Kavinsky hadn't wasted much time dreaming up solutions to the problems he faced. The Moderators were no more and dreamers could be a precious resource, though one not everyone was eager to trust. He turned his mansion into a home for his pack, setting it up with dreamt electricity and running water, sharing some of his dreamed objects with people in town who didn't treat him like a thug or a monster.
He also made sure to dream up security and defenses for the mansion- not because he was that worried about other people but because he was worried about the creatures. He dreamed a dragon-dog to guard the house in addition to his dragon from the summer the Moderators had attacked him, which had survived somehow (he didn't know how but he wasn't going to question it).
Some of his boys helped out where they could. Swan helped in the fields to aid in growing food. Jiang lended a hand cooking here and there when he could. Skov assisted with patrols of the town to make sure ghouls or other nasties hadn't crept in. Proko- Proko spent most of his free time racing down the empty streets, but so did Kavinsky. They were alike in that way.
Things were rough sometimes, especially when it came to food and clothes, but they all managed to make do. There was always something to do, something to keep them busy. It wasn't as bad as it could have been; they were all alive and together, K's boys. He didn't have to rage against the world alone.
The neighborhood was dark at night but Kavinsky's place was always lit up, a beacon in the blackness. All of his boys were in, the driveway crammed with cars, and they were drinking and laughing, having a good time. Skov and Jiang were roughhousing while the other three watched like it was a sporting event. Eventually, though, Kavinsky realized someone was at the door. Not because he heard knocking but because his still-unnamed dragon-dog was barking its head off outside.
Putting his drink down, he slipped away from Proko on the couch and went to answer the door. He opened it, expecting to see someone from town, someone needing a favor, not- Lynch. His heart and stomach both lurched. For a moment he felt numb, then the surprise and other emotions slid in. Kavinsky hadn't talked to Lynch since the Fourth of July, hadn't seen him since- fuck, he didn't even know when.
His dragon-dog was in the driveway, a healthy distance away from the other dreamer, and its barking had dissolved into low, menacing growls. The security system around the mansion was designed to keep out monsters and ghouls, not people. That was what the dog was for, to deter and potentially attack anyone who meant them harm.
Kavinsky was staring. He hadn't known Lynch was still alive, didn't know what'd happened with Parrish and Bryde and Hennessy and everyone else. Didn't know that Lynch was more or less responsible for starting this war. Didn't know that he'd slept under Ilidorin's roots, the magic of the ley line and the great tree protecting and preserving him all of this time. Two hundred and fifty years. Two hundred and fifty years and Lynch had found his way back here to show up on Kavinsky's doorstep- for what reason? He looked good, not wasteland-wanderer-chic but- he looked like himself. A little older than the last time Kavinsky had seen him.
He was still staring. Finally, he rearranged his face into a sneer, trying to play it off like he wasn't as affected by Lynch's arrival as he really was.]
The fuck are you doing here? I thought you were dead.