Part 11: Just because there are alternatives doesn't mean they apply to you...
Part 11: Just because there are alternatives doesn't mean they apply to you...
Previous: Part 10: I watched as the Lamb opened the first of seven seals...
Convenient. What does it mean, exactly? A dictionary may define the word as "fitting in well with a person's needs, activities, and plans." Another definition might be "involving little trouble or effort." Perhaps you might define it as "situated so as to allow easy access to." Convenient may also be a different way of saying suitable, favorable, or advantageous.
The definition I'm wanting right now is more along the lines of "extraordinary events opportunistically occurring through inexplicable or supernatural means." Convenient, in this case, is shorthand for "deus ex machina" or "unexpectedly and unaccountably favorable and timely" or possibly "bloody stupid game design."
Clara's encounters with convenient world events, conveniently helpful people, conveniently found items, and conveniently occurring situations happen like clockwork. If you examine everything that's happened up to her until this point, you'll see someone who is not only preternaturally lucky, but someone for whom the world seems to bend over backwards. A strange attractor, if you will. First she almost gets killed by a nuclear bomb that kills most everything else, then she almost gets killed by a mercenary who murders her husband, then she happens to encounter a series of people, one after another, who direct her on her chosen path (despite a few sidetracks prompted by her innately acquisitive nature and possible ADHD problem), then she miraculously finds a trail of items leading to exactly where she wants to be... it's almost like the whole world revolves around her.
Why am I going on about this at length? Because it's starting to scare me. I was bemused at first, then confused, then irritated, and now fearful. What's next in the "five stages of realizing that you're bound to a lightning rod of random lucky strikes?" Awe? Respect? I certainly hope not. I'd like to think I'm a little more intelligent than that. Time will tell.
Anyway, the reason I'm spouting off at length here is because Nick Valentine conveniently knows exactly who Clara is looking for, despite a vast number of other possibilities and the very unlikely chance that he would know in the first place.
After taking a seat in Valentine's office, he asks Clara for the details, all the details, no matter how small, and no matter how painful. After a single sentence, Nick's secretary interrupts and tells Clara that she doesn't need to go on. A little bit of mixed message here, considering that Elle isn't rebuked for this contradictory interruption, but hey, whatever. Valentine at first seems fairly competent at his job, jumping to reasonable conclusions that are not outlandish. He slips up a bit when he jumps a bit too far on his conclusion about the gun, but whatever. He also manfully resists the urge to poke fun at Clara for her description of the guy's voice, which ups my estimation of him a bit. I don't think I would have that kind of self-control.
When Clara gets around to actually describing the guy, "bald head and scar" being her whole contribution, he immediately assumes it's this guy Kellog. Now I'm not saying he's definitely wrong here, but in a world where radiation poisoning would ostensibly lead to a lot of bald people, and where 99% of the population is immediately hostile at first sight leading to gun battles and knife fights meaning facial scars are probably not that uncommon, taking these two bits of evidence as gospel that Kellog is the right guy is a little far-fetched to my mind. Based on this very slim evidence, Nick gets up and leads the way to Kellog's apartment. Apparently he's been missing for a while, and though "a while" is never specifically explained, one gets the impression that Kellog has been gone for a considerable amount of time. You don't open up a missing persons case for someone who's been gone less than a day, after all. Around here, with people going missing left and right, you'd think it would take at least a couple of weeks for someone to notice, much less care, that the resident hermit who keeps to himself is no longer present. Nick at first seems to only vaguely remember whether Kellog even has a house in town, though he does remember that the guy had a child in tow.
Despite Kellog's relatively secretive nature, and the fact that nobody really remembers him around here, Nick does suddenly remember that Kellog has a nasty reputation for dangerous work and that Clara's description of his activities fit his MO. Yep, that's right, this is in line with his normal behavior patterns. So apparently it was more than just his physical description that went into this identification. I guess Kellog has a relatively well-known habit of descending into impenetrable cryogen facilities and kidnapping babies. For all I know, it's not uncommon in the Commonwealth. There's probably a support group for people with that problem. "Hi, my name is a breakfast cereal brand, and I like going underground and stealing children and shooting one parent leaving the other one alive." "Welcome! Glad you came to us, we all have the same problem. You're among friends here." Yeah.
Exploring Kellog's house, both Nick and Clara seem more interested in the cigars and booze than the fact that he managed to build a secret room in his house without anyone in town noticing. Frankly I find the little sleeping bag on the ground at the foot of his bed to be a little more concerning, especially when you consider the two corncobs, handcuffs, and duct tape on the bedside table. Now I'm not saying that he got up to anything improper, but I wonder if there are any other secret rooms in this little house, possibly leading to a sex dungeon or something.
At any rate, the cigars seem to be the key to tracking him down. Nick suggests that Dogmeat could track the scent, despite the fact that it may have been literally months or even longer since Kellog was here with an unknown number of rainstorms in that time not to mention the "track" being obscured by other people or creatures. If you couldn't spot it, the italicized words there are my attempt to draw attention to more of the convenient stuff that happens to Clara. Not only is Dogmeat waiting just outside, despite the fact that he was last seen in Sanctuary and must have freaking teleported to get here this quick, and how did he know he was supposed to be here, and how did Nick know that Dogmeat was his name, and how the hell is Dogmeat supposed to track the scent of very old cigars, no matter how ripe, halfway across the world after God knows how long...
Argh. If I start thinking about it, I'm likely to burst a seam. Let's ignore the whole thing, shall we? In fact, let's skip ahead, past the whole tracking scenario, cigars and bloody bandages and profoundly stupid "decoy" attempts and dead robots and everything else, to the end. Fort Hagen.
Next: Part 12: In time, you may come back some day, to live once more, or die once more...
Go to TOC
Author's note: Dogmeat picks up the scent of the cigars, and tracks them to a little pond, where he loses the scent. But what luck - there are more cigars right there! The next time he loses the scent, it's at some bloody bandages that give him a new smell to follow. And then more bandages at the next stop. Dogmeat's nose and the trail of breadcrumbs is another one of those convenient things that keep happening to Clara.
Image: Proof that it's been quite some time since Kellog came this way. After all, Mole Rats, Yao Guai, and Ghouls have infested the route since then. Ignore the fact that areas respawn every three days (so why the missing person's report on a guy nobody cares about after only three days?) and the dead assaultron indicating that it's been a shorter time. The contradictions are almost as irritating as the serendipitous events.
The railroad in the picture we're following can't possibly be a subtle reminder of how the game is going, now can it?
Have a question or comment for Vault Suit? All things are as one in the grand design of the Universe, and thus your question has already been answered.
4 Comments
Recommended Comments