Having hit a dead end in his quest to find his father, Jason absentmindedly stroked his beard as he considered what to do next. He figured that he could look around town for some jobs that might pay some money. He also needed a few supplies. Sheriff Simms had told him about Moira at the Craterside Supply. So, he ventured over to the place Simms had pointed out.
He opened the door which squeaked as it opened. Inside, he could see a variety of strange looking devices and weapons. A tall, gruff man leaned against the wall. He was clearly a bodyguard. Directly to Jason's right was a counter, behind which stood a young, red-haired, caucasian woman with a bright look in her eyes and a wide smile.
"Hi there!" she said, waving. "I'm Moira Brown, owner of Craterside Supply! How can I help you today?"
"Hello," Jason said, pleasantly surprised by her cheerful attitude. So far, everyone he had met had been serious, depressed, or hostile. "You're the first person that's smiled at me," he said, unable to hold back a grin.
Moira looked at his vault clothing, her smile growing ever wider. She was so excited that she was practically shaking. "Hey!" she said, jumping up and down. "You're that guy from the vault that I heard about! Oh joy! It would be so cool for the book I'm writing to have a prologue by a vault dweller! Please! Tell me about life in the vault! What was it like!?"
Jason was taken aback a little. "Uh…" he said. "Okay… It was kind of cramped, and there weren't many people who liked me very much. Then, my dad left, so I left too. It was a lot safer than life out here though."
"Woah, cool!" Moira said. "I mean the 'safer' part is cool, not the 'nobody liked me and my dad left' part."
Jason was aghast. Moira certainly was bold. She didn't even notice the callousness of what she had just said, and she continued prattling on about her scarily accurate guesses of what vault life was like. During Moira's oblivious rant, Jason spotted an armored version of a Vault 101 jumpsuit. He realized that she was never going to stop talking on her own, so he had to interrupt her.
"Excuse me," he said, pointing at the jumpsuit, "but where did you get that?"
Moira was completely unfazed by the interruption. She just switched to rambling about the jumpsuit instead. "Oh this old thing?" she said. "Some middle-aged guy traded it for some wasteland clothes. I thought it was cool, so I added some armor to it. Say… that guy looked kind of like you. Was that your dad who left you? Poor thing."
"It probably was," Jason said. "Do you know where he went?"
"Something about going to see Moriarty, I think," Moira replied. "Sorry, I can't be more helpful to you. However, seeing as how it was your dad's and all, I'll give it to you!"
"Really?" Jason said. "Thanks!"
"No problem!" Moira said. "Say! I just got a great idea! Y'know that book I mentioned earlier? Well, I happen to be in need of a research assistant! See, I'm writing this book called the 'Wasteland Survival Guide.' It's going to be all about how to survive in this crazy wasteland we call home. Hence the name."
"I'm kind of busy," Jason said. "I have to find my dad…"
"I'll pay you!" Moira said.
Jason did need money if he was going to convince Moriarty to give him a lead.
"Okay," Jason said. "What do you need me to do?"
"Sweet!" Moira cheered, whooped, and danced at her success, pumping her fists in the air. Jason shook his head, but couldn't stop smiling. "Okay!" Moira began speaking at light speed. "For the first chapter, I need to know stuff about food, radiation, and landmines! Which of those sounds best to you?"
Since there was an atomic bomb right outside, radiation would probably be the easiest thing to do. "Radiation sounds interesting," Jason said. "What do you need for that?"
"Oh, nothing much," Moira said. "I just need you to get so irradiated you're almost dead."
"WHAT!?" Jason yelled.
"Oh, calm down," Moira said. "I'm just kidding. You only have to get basic radiation sickness so I can study its effects on your body. But, if you get advanced radiation sickness, it would be better for my research…" She gave Jason puppy dog eyes. "I'll fix you right up as soon as you get back! Please?" More puppy dog eyes.
"Fine," Jason said. He needed the caps, and honestly who could say no to that face?
"Thanks! You're the greatest!" Moira said.
"Before I do that," Jason said, "I need to get rid of some stuff, and I need to purchase some supplies."
"Sure thing!" Moira said.
Jason bought some food and water. He went into the other room and changed from the security suit he was wearing into the armored jumpsuit. He pulled Butch's Tunnel Snake jacket on over the jumpsuit. He sold the security armor and other excess stuff that he didn't need. He held onto the drugs that he had found, deciding to burn those later. After finishing his business with Moira, Jason walked to the door.
"I'll be right back," he said.
Jason walked down the stairs to the center of town where the bomb sat. Confessor Cromwell was still standing in the pool of water around the bomb, shouting about "the glow of Atom." Jason walked right into the pool on the opposite side of Cromwell. He sat down in the puddle and started drinking as much of the irradiated water as he could. His pip-boy was not very happy about that. It wasn't long before he started feeling ill. He kept pushing until the pip-boy informed him that he had reached 600 rads.
"Finally," he said. Unable to stand up straight, Jason crawled his way back to the Craterside supply. His vision was in a haze, and his stomach was one bump away from losing its contents. Eventually, after an agonizing journey, Jason made it back. All he could manage was to bang on the door. Moira opened the door and chattered animatedly as she dragged him inside and started treating him.
Later, Jason woke up with a start. Moira was nudging his shoulder.
"Hey," she said, "are you okay?"
"I'm feeling much better now," he said. "How did you fix that?"
"Oh, just a little concoction of my own making. I'm afraid that's my secret. Say, I never even asked you your name! Silly me! What's your name?"
"Jason," he said.
"Awesome! Now, Jason, can you tell me about how you felt?"
"The headaches made it hard to focus. Not to mention the fact that I had to crawl here because of how weak it made me. I recommend avoiding radiation if at all possible."
Moira wrote some stuff down in her notes. "Great! Here's your payment!" She handed Jason some Rad-X and RadAway.
"I… thought you meant that you would pay me with caps."
"Oh no, the stuff I pay you with will be way better than any silly old caps."
Jason sighed. He just got so sick that he almost died, and she wasn't even going to pay him what he needed. At least this Rad-X and RadAway would come in handy.
"So, what do you want to do next?" Moira asked.
"I guess looking for food sounds interesting. Can you pay me with caps this time though?"
"Oh sure," Moira said. "I guess I can give you some caps if that's really how you want it."
Jason exited Craterside Supply and made his way to the edge of town. Moira had given him some directions, so he figured he could find it easily enough.
"Don't worry, Dad," he said as he walked away from Megaton. "I'll find you. It just might take me a bit longer than I expected."