Dala

Doctor Dala is a pre-War scientist and member of the Think Tank in Big MT .
==Background==
The human who became Doctor Dala was the first head chief researcher of mineralogy at Big MT, who worked with her fellow executives to extract their brains and transplant them into robotic think tank shells to continue their work. Doctor Dala claims she is the head researcher on humanology and lobotomites, and supposedly holds 211 doctorates ranging from mineralogy and humanology to medicine and holotape eidetics.
As an almost-entirely robotic entity, Dala has an arguably unhealthy fascination with the human body, bordering on fetishistic. She appears to have pent-up sexual frustrations (though she would never admit such as accusation to her peers) for which the only release is examining living tissue or observing various physiological actions. Other members of the Think Tank refer to Dala's collection of formography — explained as obsession with the human body — as if it were a hoard of erotic or even pornographic material.The Courier: "Who are you? What do you do here?"Dala: " I have 211 doctorates in both applied sciences and techniques to apply those sciences. I also possess a degree in Curiosity and Advanced Curiosity. That is merely schooling, however. When possible, I prefer field work and observation to holotape eidetics. It has proven useful, especially now. I have become the expert on humanology and Lobotomite behavior here at Big . "(Dala's dialogue)
After the Great War, the Big MT executives' amorality and scientific insanity was exacerbated by their heavy abuse of Mentats. In an effort to avert the potential second catastrophe that their unchecked experimenting could do to the post-War wasteland, their colleague Doctor Mobius hacked into their robot bodies and swapped the Think Tank's pre-War memories and names with that of their new eccentric characters, restraining their cognition within a recursion loop; for Dala, it served to heighten her extreme obsession with the human body and belief of her intelligence by having over 211 doctorates in sciences which do not exist. The Think Tank came to demonize Mobius, believing him an enemy, a role he had to enforce by fleeing to the Forbidden Zone where he too went insane over his Mentats addiction and began sending looped messages of threats back to his former colleagues to keep them contained.The Courier: "Sounds like you forgot your master plan - surprised you remember your own name."Mobius: "This name's as real as you or I, although I believe your brain expressed similar incredulity at the nature of such an appellation. Someone's been watching too many Old World science fiction movies, it said. . I must admit I have a vulnerability for holotape fantasies of planets and robots and all that is forbidden. As for the name I was born with... ...like the Think Tank, we were all reprogrammed to forget them, take on new names. It enforces the recursion loop in our perception programming."The Courier: "You reprogrammed their names as part of recursion loop? What, to trap their processors?"Mobius: "[SUCCEEDED] But... yes, I did... take some liberties with their programming. It's all right, they don't remember. I certainly didn't until you said 'trap.' And then I said 'excrement.' And then..."The Courier: "Why did you trap them?"Mobius: "The Radar Fence to keep the Think Tank hemmed in wasn't really enough. They keep testing things, they would have found a way to disarm it. So I had to do something else to keep them occupied here. Or as you like to say 'trapped.' I prefer to have several plan Bs in case the As fail."(Mobius' dialogue)
==Interactions with the player character==
===Interactions overview===
===Quests===
* Welcome to the Big Empty: The player has to talk to Dala as with the rest of the think tanks to complete the quest.
* Picking Your Brains: After completing Welcome to the Big Empty, the player needs to talk to Dala and the rest of the think tanks to complete this quest.
* Coming Out of Her Shell: Dala would like to monitor your "biorhythms" and observe you as an organism.
* He Came... And Went: Dala can start this quest by picking the right speech choices in conversation.
* Old World Blues: If Klein can't be convinced otherwise, Dala, along with 2 other members of the Think Tank, are needed to convince Klein to give up trying to escape the Big MT.
===Effects of player's actions===
Completing Coming Out of Her Shell before the climax of Old World Blues gains Dala as 1 of 3 required "votes" to make Klein back down and spare the lives of the Think Tank.
===Other interactions===
* Speech options can imply that she shows more emotion than the other doctors, especially if the Courier has the Lady Killer or Cherchez La Femme perk.
* After completing Coming Out of Her Shell, you can return to Dala once a day for a "breather" (literally letting her watch you breathe) for some ammunition (depleted energy cells) in return.
* Her strong obsession with teddy bears allows one to open a new dialogue option during Coming Out of Her Shell by having an actual teddy bear to give her.
==Inventory==
==Notes==
* There is one line of dialogue in which Dala refers to herself as a "gender-neutral entity."Dala: "I cannot believe you would hit a gender-neutral entity such as myself."(Dala's dialogue) It is only heard as a combat line if Dala is attacked. The term non-binary could be used to describe Dala based on this statement; however, Dala is never described in this way by any official sources, other than the dialogue calling herself a "gender-neutral entity." Dala is consistently referred to using she/her female pronouns, including the name of the quest Coming Out of Her Shell. In comparison, Burke from Fallout 76 was the first time the series officially acknowledged the identity of a non-binary character, including in official sources.Fallout: Community Spotlight - Gamermomover50
* Dala appears to have an obsession with teddy bears: she admits to this and it is reinforced by evidence in Higgs Village, in House #104.
* Apart from Doctor 8, she is the only Think Tank member carrying a distinctive item.
* Despite being the only Think Tank member to know the difference between toes and penises,Klein: "I KNOW IT IS, DALA, I WANT TO KNOW IT'S DOWN HERE. "Dala: "I believe those are toes, Dr. Klein. Little teddy bear toes. Penises are much larger than those tiny extremities... "Doctor 0: "**"" "(Klein, Dala, and 0's dialogue) Dala still refers to the Courier's "penis feet" in one of the random Think Tank broadcasts.Doctor Dala:""Doctor Dala's dialogue
* When Doctor Mobius comments on the things the scientists have forgotten, masturbation is probably aimed at Dala, due to her fascination with the human body and tendency to make noises of ecstasy. She also almost says "vibrator" instead of "vivisector" at one point.
* If the Courier brings Dala a teddy bear, she will decline and explain that lobotomites are her teddy bears. Despite this, her home in Higgs Village and her room in The Think Tank are both filled with teddy bears.
* There were plans for her to have a favorite teddy bear, named Dala's teddy bear, but it was cut.
==Notable quotes==
==Appearances==
Dala appears only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Old World Blues.
==Behind the scenes==
* One dialogue option during interactions with Dala is saying the phrase "The Quick Scribe jumped over the Lazy Paladin"The Courier: "The quick Scribe jumped over the lazy Paladin?"Dala: "Yes, yes, go on. Seeing your... lips and mouth forming the words... both revolting... and somehow... ...how does it feel to have the flesh roll around in your mouth like that? To control each muscle... and the tongue... ...like having a fish, or extremely dexterous slug, lolling and flopping in one's... mouthal cavity."(Dala's dialogue) which is a line Christine says in Dead Money.Christine Royce: ""(Christine Royce's dialogue) Both are a reference to a pangram, but not a true pangram itself because it is missing several letters of the English alphabet.
* Dala's statement regarding no standing on the green pipes is a reference to the movie Airplane! and the announcements in the terminal about the white zone and red zone.
==Bugs==
 It is possible that you won't be able to initiate another "Breathing Session" with Dala after you have already done so once before. 
==Gallery==
DalaHuman.png|Dala before becoming a think tankChris Avellone on Twitter
==References==
Non-game
Category:Big MT characters
Category:Fallout: New Vegas scientists
Category:Think Tank characters
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