Title: Five Times the World Opened Up Summary: Five times people from other worlds slipped through time and space to land in the Mojave. (Or: a fic into which I dump all my poorly thought out crossover ideas.) Kinks: Crossover, crack. Possibly some romance, but nothing explicit.
Part One: You Can't Take the Wastes from Me
"There's some cranial trauma" the strange doctor said to Arcade, "and I don't expect the Followers to be able to fix it overnight. All I'm asking is the use of some equipment so I can better understand what she's going through."
Arcade didn't want to say no to him, but the fact was that the Followers were strapped for supplies and everybody knew it. Maybe he should have been grateful that the doctor hadn't just looted the place with his shady looking friends. No shadier than Boone, Cass and the Courier, he supposed.
It was hard to say exactly what was wrong with the girl, at least when she wouldn't let Arcade examine her. She'd rather stay huddled in the corner of the tent playing with her stringy hair, mumbling to herself about geckos. Frankly, he wasn't sure there was anything that could be done to help- it was extremely unlikely that schizophrenia could come on as suddenly as the strange doctor claimed, and when it came to brain surgery he'd probably be better off asking for intelligence implants than for Arcade to provide clean and advanced tools.
Still, it wasn't often that handsome, educated bachelors wandered his way, and Arcade wasn't keen to turn this one away.
"Well, Doctor Tam, you probably know what it's like to try administering care in less than ideal conditions. I wouldn't be surprised if she was under psychological trauma in addition to anything physical, in which case you'd need a different kind of doctor. The Followers may be the best place for health care in the Mojave, but, well, bonitas non est pessimis esse meliorem." Simon Tam seemed like a safe bet to use Latin on- if he'd been to medical school, he knew it could be used for more than just warmongering.
Unfortunately, the crazy sister hadn't been to medical school. In the same minute, three things happened- Arcade finished his sentence, ED-E floated into the tent, and said crazy sister opened her eyes and started to scream. Even that could have been handled, if she hadn't brought her horribly sharp nails up and gone for Arcade's throat.
There was the sound of hurried footsteps outside the tent- someone had heard the screams. Oh god, thought Arcade, if she doesn't murder me first, that awful man in the ugly hat is going to. But no, Tam's shady entourage had said they were headed off to the casinos for the afternoon; instead it was Arcade's shady entourage who burst in with guns raised.
"It's alright!" Dr. Tam was shouting as he did his best to hold his flailing sister back. "I've got a sedative!"
"What the hell's wrong with her?" Boone demanded.
"I was trying to find that out when she tried to kill me!" The Tam girl was by now rendered unconscious in her brother's arms, but Boone and Cass didn't move their gun barrels from her direction.
Five Times the World Opened Up 1a/5
Summary: Five times people from other worlds slipped through time and space to land in the Mojave. (Or: a fic into which I dump all my poorly thought out crossover ideas.)
Kinks: Crossover, crack. Possibly some romance, but nothing explicit.
Part One: You Can't Take the Wastes from Me
"There's some cranial trauma" the strange doctor said to Arcade, "and I don't expect the Followers to be able to fix it overnight. All I'm asking is the use of some equipment so I can better understand what she's going through."
Arcade didn't want to say no to him, but the fact was that the Followers were strapped for supplies and everybody knew it. Maybe he should have been grateful that the doctor hadn't just looted the place with his shady looking friends. No shadier than Boone, Cass and the Courier, he supposed.
It was hard to say exactly what was wrong with the girl, at least when she wouldn't let Arcade examine her. She'd rather stay huddled in the corner of the tent playing with her stringy hair, mumbling to herself about geckos. Frankly, he wasn't sure there was anything that could be done to help- it was extremely unlikely that schizophrenia could come on as suddenly as the strange doctor claimed, and when it came to brain surgery he'd probably be better off asking for intelligence implants than for Arcade to provide clean and advanced tools.
Still, it wasn't often that handsome, educated bachelors wandered his way, and Arcade wasn't keen to turn this one away.
"Well, Doctor Tam, you probably know what it's like to try administering care in less than ideal conditions. I wouldn't be surprised if she was under psychological trauma in addition to anything physical, in which case you'd need a different kind of doctor. The Followers may be the best place for health care in the Mojave, but, well, bonitas non est pessimis esse meliorem." Simon Tam seemed like a safe bet to use Latin on- if he'd been to medical school, he knew it could be used for more than just warmongering.
Unfortunately, the crazy sister hadn't been to medical school. In the same minute, three things happened- Arcade finished his sentence, ED-E floated into the tent, and said crazy sister opened her eyes and started to scream. Even that could have been handled, if she hadn't brought her horribly sharp nails up and gone for Arcade's throat.
There was the sound of hurried footsteps outside the tent- someone had heard the screams. Oh god, thought Arcade, if she doesn't murder me first, that awful man in the ugly hat is going to. But no, Tam's shady entourage had said they were headed off to the casinos for the afternoon; instead it was Arcade's shady entourage who burst in with guns raised.
"It's alright!" Dr. Tam was shouting as he did his best to hold his flailing sister back. "I've got a sedative!"
"What the hell's wrong with her?" Boone demanded.
"I was trying to find that out when she tried to kill me!" The Tam girl was by now rendered unconscious in her brother's arms, but Boone and Cass didn't move their gun barrels from her direction.