Fallout: Wild Horses (Started, Open)

[RobDaBank]

Fair Wanderings

Kaiden shifted from hiding spot to hiding spot, dodging the patrolling pairs to get a closer inspection. As he rounded a corner if a building he caught sight of a row of crucifixes, all with men and women on. He also spotted a patrol heading his way. Kaiden ran back around the corner and entered the nearest tent, currently not on fire.

'Oh God!' Called a cowering voice above the crackling of the flames. Kaiden turned to see a young man, barely out of his teens sat in a chair, his legs visibly broken. 'You're not going to...' Before he could finish his sentence Kaiden ran over and placed his huge hand over his mouth, silencing him.

"I am not here to hurt you, but if you scream, you will leave me with no choice, understood?" He asked, the young man nodded his head quickly, a tear rolled down his cheek and he shook violently, a clear sign of his pain and fear. He was clutching a small piece of paper. Kaiden removed his hand and the kid whispered 'They made us play the lottery' 

"Who did this?"

'Legion'

Kaiden was taken aback, as far as he knew The Legion had been defeated, but then Super Mutants didn't often get much reliable information about current affairs.

'Can you help me?' Asked the youngster.

Kaiden thought long and hard, it would be best if he slipped out unnoticed and warned his people, but this was an innocent man. His mind was quickly made up however when the tent finally caught fire, the heat quickly increased as the fire ate through the material like a swarm of locusts devouring a corn field. He grabbed the youth and carried him out of the tent, towards the group he had followed, shaking his hood off his head to reveal his face. "This boy needs help!" He yelled to the leader of the group. He felt the stares of everyone in the area as they turned their weapons towards him, probably out of reflex. Maybe not the best of plans Kaiden thought to himself.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Cheyton: Home to the trio of Rabbits

The Scheming Rabbit seemed to be rather conflicted over the way in which she had treated her sister earlier. Tessa knew that look of surprise, except in Freeside that look quickly devolved into disgust when someone of a higher social standing learned of her less-than-savory activities. Frustratingly, she never stuck around to watch Mercy's full reaction.

You couldn't blame Tessa for jumping to that conclusion when she's had people show nothing but disdain for her, only finding common ground with the like-minded street rats she grew up with.

At that moment, she was simultaneously offended that her sister may have thought less of her. Meanwhile, she was scolding herself for letting her guard down so much in the past few days. Tessa finally concluded her feelings on the matter, there was no point in taking it out on her sister, if they were going to be living together, then they had to communicate.

Reflecting sadly, she wished her sister would talk more. Either way, they should have a heart-to-heart...hence the Vodka if that's what was needed.

Her mind fluttered down to her new blue dress and she almost laughed at her appearance in the mirror. She looked...decent for once. Despite her youth spent on the streets, her teens were spent indoors or under the cover of the night. While oddly pale, she admired her loose secondary pigtails, twirling around, a person could still see the end and beginnings of numerous scars on her exposed back. Annoying, but it didn't ruin the overall presentation.

Nevertheless, she pranced around barefoot, swishing her dress around with a lovely sense of freedom -...

...wasn't Mercy still waiting on the roof?

Thankfully, the door opened and Tess stood in next to the house's only table, adorned with gifts, food and Tessa's loot. While Vera hovered and Mercy stepped in, she timed a perfect greeting. "Tada!"

The Happy Thief presented her best jazz-hands and a large grin.

 

[TheDoctor455]

In a hole in a ground, there lived a trio of Rabbits. Not a nasty, wet hole, nor a dry and sandy hole. It was a Rabbit hole, and that means... comfort.

Vera was too eager to show off her new bunny ears to Tessa to notice the goodies on the table. She quickly lowered herself so that her faceplate was at Tessa's eye-level, and then Vera inclined her 'head' to give the master thief a better look at the ears. Meanwhile, Vera got a great look at Tessa's beautiful new dress.

Suits her perfectly. Vera quietly whirred to herself, as she both admired Tessa in her new dress, and... remembered her... human self wearing them.

Afraid that Tessa would somehow notice the eyebot blushing (at least metaphorically), after she was sure Tessa got a good look at the ears, Vera flew over to the table to examine the loot that the older Rabbit sister had brought in.

Hmm... counting all of the times this... platform has been active... I'm easily well over 200 years old. Huh. Only had a personality twice though. How do I know that?

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Rabid Rabbits' Rustic Retreat of Relaxation and Restoration (aka The Rabbit Hole of Solitude aka Tessa's Found Flat)

While Vera hovered and Mercy stepped in, she timed a perfect greeting. "Tada!"

The Happy Thief presented her best jazz-hands and a large grin.

The sight of the gifts, food, drink, her sister, her sister's smile and especially her sister's jazz hands banished whatever commotion had been running through the youngest sister's mind and brought out the smile that seemed to have been absent for the majority of that morning.

"Wow, Tess! You really went all out didn't you?" The Book Bunny asked as she looked at all the items that her sister had brought home from the market. She had even brought home and served with a bit of Scrambled Deathclaw Egg and Slices and pan fried Cram with a side of Blamco.

And then it clicked.

"Tess. Thank you. Thank you so much for - for - everything really. I know that I probably haven't been too mindful of your feelings, talking about our dad and all, but I want you to know that no matter what, you're my sister and I want us to be family." The youngest Rabbit said, with eyes twinkling from the tears that rested in their corners.

"I'm happy that we get the chance to know each other - " She continued as she wiped the tears away with an I-can't-believe-I'm-such-a-crybaby-I'm-so-embarrassed smile.

"You too Vera. Even though you came barging into our lives like a spherical battering ram, I think that you're a great sister too." the youngest girl concluded, before hiding her flushed cheeks by lifting the collar of her shirt up to the bridge of her nose, her glasses fogging up from the condensation.

Noticing the throwing knives that the elder sister had brought home, the inventor bunny thought that it was time to give Tessa a gift, as she grabbed the knives, two pieces of scrap, some BBs and a sensor module.

A few moments later, Mercy presented her gift, a wrist mounted throwing knives holder and dispenser.

"Tada!"

 

[TheDoctor455]

The Rabbit Hole.

Vera examined the heaps of electronic guts and energy cells. Vera absorbed the energy from the power cells with her multitool, then she started analyzing the electro-scrap to see what useful components could be salvaged from it.

Then Vera heard the youngest Rabbit:

"You too Vera. Even though you came barging into our lives like a spherical battering ram, I think that you're a great sister too."

Upon hearing that, Vera came rushing back to the Bookish Rabbit's side, and started dancing in the air in front of her, chirping happily.

Spoiler: And then, Vera got out her happy music...

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

The home of Mercy and Vera

"Wow, Tess! You really went all out didn't you?"

"I have a flair for the dramatic, you'll get used to it." She said so with a smirk on her face and overly-dramatic curtsy to further illustrate her point.

Now a meal, gifts and maybe a few drinks seemed like a standard affair amongst friends. As far as family goes, that was a whole new level of meaning. As far as Mercy's outburst of gratitude went...

Needless to say, Tessa was taken aback by Mercy's sudden display of openness. While it was far from unpleasant, just the opposite actually, it had crippled Tessa's ability to properly enunciate her words to some extent.

"Well -...I just. You see, I was worried - I really..." with an exasperated sigh and tears of her own welling up, she proceeded to pull her sister in for an extended hug and kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for...for staying, for becoming my -...real family!" With a whisper in her ear. "I love you."

Never having been confronted with issues related to her family, gratitude and understanding were overwhelming emotions. She never realized she had become such a crybaby. "Ahh, I think some of that Blamco got in my eye, that's all." Yeah, nobody was buying that. "I may have stabbed you, but you literally know how to make one hell of an entrance. Personally, I'm glad it was our door you bashed down, Vera." She chuckled at the sight of Vera's bunny ears. "I think you're a certified part of the Rabbit family now." she said so endearingly while giving the metallic sphere a hug.

Inspecting her wrist-mounting throwing knives, she may have just found her new signature weapon. The sparkling in Tessa's eyes had confirmed that fact. "Thank you! It's beautiful!"

Tessa was interrupted by a knock on the door, answering it, a large burly man with bowler hat spoke up and walked away. "Terribly sorry, Miss. Must have the wrong address."

Alarm bells started ringing in her head. She peered through the keyhole and watched the large man nod in three directions, making a hand-signal and slowly walking away.

"You guys start eating without me, I'll be out for a few minutes, just catching some fresh air."

That's what she may have said, but her expression said otherwise as she packed all their caps, just a little over a thousand in total, threw the throwing-knives and a bowie knife into her bag and attached a note on the bag. Which read: ("If gone. This = Yours. Anyone asks = inheritance from dad.")

She left her schoolbag on the bed, concealing her actions the entire time. She proceeded to silently make her way out of the house.

----------------

One Rabbit gets caught.

Stepping outside with her second bowie knife concealed behind her back, she shut the door behind her. Slipping out while her sisters were preoccupied. She started following the burly man. Her house was completely out of the way from other establishments. You had to have a pretty deliberate reason for arriving on her doorstep. "Hey! Mind explaining what you're doing around my hou-"

She collapsed to the floor, her blade clamoring to the ground as the man surprised her with a punch to the gut. Two figures had approached from the side, one filled her mouth with a dirty rag to muffle any sounds she made while the other figure fastened her hands behind her back with rope and pressed a gun to her temple. Completely surrounding her, they lead her around several twists and turns as the streets grew more dilapidated.

The slums.

Struggling, she tried to force herself away from her kidnappers when her own bowie knife was buried into her thigh and she hit the ground face first. A heavily tattooed bruiser leaned over Tessa's writhing body.

"I like this blade. This is a nice fucking blade." Tessa screamed in agony, despite the rag in her mouth, the tears had welled up in her eyes as she started squirming.

"Do you see...DO YOU SEE WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!? shouted the tattooed man with her bloodied knife. "Now I don't like to shout, it's impolite...BUT SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The man had started to laugh as Tessa whimpered in fear. "But how rude am I, do you know why you're here? Of course not...because if you did, you wouldn't be stealing from us!"

The man wrapped his greasy hand around Tessa's chin, wrenching her head upwards. Slowly he brought her blade to her eye and ran the edge along her cheek, cutting into her skin with ease. "We saw your little show today. Quite impressive. Now we don't care what you took. THIS IS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE!" he brought the edge of the blade to her eye once more. "You see...an example has to be made or people will get ideas." he chuckled. "...if you fuck with us, you fuck with the Knuckleheads."

"Take her to the safehouse, I want to see what this ***** knows!" An unexpected punch to the face had rendered Tessa unconscious. "Let's have some fun, woo!"

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Martin watched the conversation between Joe and the Robobrain... George.

Joe began to leave for the town hall and Martin figured he wouldn't be wanted there right now.
"Come back here to pick me up, when you're ready to leave town."

Martin looked back at George, his eyes lingering on the flamer for a moment.
"So, you're from Dakota?"

 

[TheDoctor455]

The Rabbit Hole

Vera was poking through the electro-scrap when she heard the knock on the door. She saw Tessa answer it, and decided to keep an eye on her, just in case. As Tessa followed the strangers out of the house and towards the slums, Vera followed. But before leaving the house, Vera did the only thing she could do to make sure Mercy was safe: she magnetically sealed the door behind her as she quietly followed Tessa and the group of thugs 'escorting' her across town.

Somewhere in the scummy part of town in this wretched hive of... you know.

Vera continued to follow the group, quietly and deftly darting from cover to cover, using molerat noises to disguise her passing. Then, the thugs pushed Tessa into a small hideout. Vera didn't need to know what was being said in there. She knew it couldn't be good. She activated her Ultra Sonic Emitter. In response, every dog, both domestic and feral, within a 5 mile radius of her howled in unison, and came rushing to her position. Several were nearby, but most took several minutes to get there.

Several minutes later, just outside the Knuckleheads' hideout
Once Vera was sure all the dogs that could come had (which was somewhere in the four dozen area), she played a pre-war record that got them charging the small hideout with her:

"FLY MY PRETTIES FLY!"

They WILL NOT have her! No-no-no-no-no! I'm not letting it happen again! NO! I will destroy all of them before they can even touch her!

 

[EmperorZuma]

Fair Wanderings

"Hold your fire!" A shout echoed across the area as Jose stepped into sight. He could see the Super Mutant was protecting the boy, so he had his men lower their weapons. Walking over to Kaiden, the caravan leader soon saw that the boy's legs were in tatters. With a grunt, Jose looked up at the Super Mutant. "Follow me, I can take you to our doctor."

The next few minutes involved quite a change of scenery, as the rest of Jose's caravan entered the burning ruins of the town. Surprisingly orderly, they split up into groups and dispersed across the town. Some beat out the fires, to conserve water, while others worked to search for survivors and pull people from the crucifixes.

By the time Jose and Kaiden reached Jacob's makeshift infirmary, the fire was smoldering, and what was left of the town was safe. However, one could not speak for the inhabitants, as so few trickled into the tent to receive care. "In here." Jose gestured for Kaiden to head into the tent with the boy, following him in afterward.

Inside, the appearance of the Super Mutant caused everything to freeze, the men Jacob had doing the grunt work gripped what they had tightly, intending to use them as weapons. "Lives are on the line people!" Everyone's heads snapped to the doctor, working on a burn victim in the corner. "There isn't going to be any fighting in here, especially with my supplies!" Some of the men growled with weariness before they returned to their work.

After finishing whatever he was doing with his current patient, Jacob moved to Kaiden and the boy in his arms. "Let's see what we have here." The doctor moved to see the legs, signing aloud. "This depraved lottery..."

The boy sounded scared at what didn't sound like a promising prognosis. "Am I going to die?!"

Jacob put a hand over the boys head and managed a smile. "No, you'll be fine." Jacob looked up at Kaiden and pointed to one of the few empty beds. "Put him there please." Once the boy was on the boy, he gave a screech of pain with the pressure on his legs. Jacob quickly reacted with a shot to the boy's neck, which caused his body to go limp. "He isn't going to want to be awake when I reset the bones." Jacob spoke to himself aloud as he leaned over the boy to better see his injuries. "Actually, Jose, doesn't he look familiar?"

Jose spoke up from behind Jacob, squinting at the boy's face. "Huh, I think I see it, but I don't know from where."

"Jak!" A shout came from the tent entrance, drawing everyone's attention. It was the nomad who brought the caravan here, he apparently recognized the lad. Now with the two together, Jacob could see they resembled each other, they had to be related. "What happened to him?!" The nomad rushed to Jak's bedside, only to be disappointed to see he was unconscious.

"Your brother was 'fortune' enough to be one of the Legion's lottery winners. They broke his legs and left him here. I can set the bones and help them heal, but time is of the essence." Jacob gently moved the young man aside as he began his work, getting a strange device that poured out steam as it helped Jacob get a good grip on each fragment of bone as he pushed them back into place.

As the doctor worked, Jose looked over to Jak's brother, or at least, that was he first guess at the relation. "Quint, you have this big guy here to thank for saving your brother. His tent was on fire before we found him, would've burned alive if it wasn't for his help."

The nomad, Quint, upon realizing that his brother's savior was before him, flung him onto the hulking figure, actually hugging him. "Thank you, sir! Thank you so much!"

 

[Souplex]

Dry Springs
"Come back here to pick me up, when you're ready to leave town."
"Can do!"
Joe left the bar and headed out.
The fresh air felt good. The wind however, made whistling noises as it blew through the holes in his new tattered cowboy hat. It would need replacing if he was to look presentable for going to speak on diplomatic matter.
"Excuse me ma'm, do you know where I might obtain a replacement for my hat?"
"I'd check Goodman Brothers' supplies. It's straight that way, by the lake."
Joe tipped his hat.
"Thank you."
Joe walked off in the direction the woman pointed.
Other than the punks who attacked him back at the bar, the people of Dry Springs seemed quite nice. Had Joe not been on a mission, he probably would have spent some time drawing immature things on their unconscious faces. Another time perhaps.
They would probably be waking up around now to find themselves in a pile in the back of the bar. Joe did not envy them. Shotgun beanbags to the head hurt something nasty, and tend to leave the recipients with awful headaches that last quite a while.
Joe arrived at a building with a sign that read "Goodman Bros. supplies". He went in.
[Perception] Joe was met with a small room. Ahead of him was a counter, behind which was a pudgy bespectacled man in a jumpsuit. To the left of the entrance was a dour looking muscular man in leather armor holding a large revolver. [Guns 85/25] Joe was pretty sure it was a .44 Magnum revolver. With a heavy frame modification from the look of it.
"Welcome! Good to see a new face. How can I help you?"
Joe placed his hat on the counter.
"I need to replace this, what would you recommend?"
The pudgy bespectacled man looked him over.
"You're going for the wasteland cowboy look I take it?"
"Apparently."
The shopkeeper flipped through a ledger briefly.
"Aaron! Bring me item H-43!"
A squeaky voice came from the back room.
"Just a second Lenny!"
A tall lanky man came out of the back room carrying a black cowboy hat with a large brim, curved to the sides, and a thin white band at the base. The man placed it on the counter, and went back into the backroom.
"Very nice."
"10 caps."
[Barter 75/30] What if I traded in my old hat? Even if you can't sell it, you can use it for spare fabric to repair other hats.
"...7 caps."
"Deal."
Joe placed 7 caps on the table (Caps remaining: 493) and put on his new hat.
"Now is there anything else you needed?"

 

[Generic NPC 22]

La Trou des Lapins

Mercy was alone and she didn't like it, not one bit. Tessa was gone, Vera was gone and this left the Plasma Bunny all by her lonesome.

"WHAT?!" She exclaimed as she tried the door and found it locked. She was a prisoner. A prisoner in her own home and whether it was because the others had decided to abandon her or something even more sinister than that, she wasn't sure but still she.didn't.like.it.

Grabbing a fission battery from her bag, a length of insulated copper wiring and a stick, she began wrapping the wiring around the stick, looking angrily at the magnetically sealed door as she did.

"You're not gonna keep me away from my sisters." She scolded the door as she finished wrapping the wiring around the stick and placing on end of the wire against the negative terminal of the battery and the other end against the positive terminal, causing the door to audibly creak as the magnetic seal increased in strength.

"Ooops." The bunny muttered as she reversed the order of the terminals.

At first it seemed as if nothing happened until the Bookish Rabbit gave the door a gentle push.

"CREEEEEEEEAAAAAK" Said the door as it opened slowly to reveal with world outside and a dog that was running at top speed towards some unknown location, followed by another.

"(Vera! It's gotta be!)" Mercy thought to herself as she grabbed her plasma pistol with the mods freshly installed before running after the two dogs, but not before locking the door behind her once again.

[hr]

Outside Asshole Central:

There she was! Vera that is, surrounded by what looked like a few dozen dogs, all vying for her attention with barks and wagging tails.

Before Mercy could call out:

"FLY MY PRETTIES FLY!" The prewar recording sounded as the Eyebot and her canine companions "dashed" towards what appeared to be a Poseidon Energy Garage.

"CRASH!" Squealed the breached door, as Vera did what she seemed to do best, break through doors. The noise was immediately followed by the sound of dogs yelping in pain as the assholes brought down the hammer on Vera's flying monkeys Pack of Pain!

A man, or simian of some sort, came out of a hovel from across the street, a Brush Rifle cradled in his arms as he started moving purposefully towards the Garage where the dog yelps were followed by human yelps. It already sounded bad enough in the garage but adding the gorilla with the Brush Rifle wouldn't help the situation.

"Hey you!" Mercy yelled at the top of her lungs, as she started sprinting towards the goomba with the gun, closing the gap between them just as the man brought the rifle up to his shoulder to take aim at the closing Plasma Bunny. As her adrenaline kicked into overdrive, time seemed to slow down for Mercy.

[MENTAL V.A.T.S.]

• - Sweeping Strike - Brush Rifle Barrel (95%)
  - Side Kick - Knee (95%)
  - Plasma Burst - Torso (95%)

Let me give you a piece of advice kids. If you're about to die, whatever you do, don't make the dumb face the moron with the brush rifle made as he witnessed the girl run beyond the mouth of the Brush Rifle's Barrel and gave the gun a strike with her left hand, sending the man's aim towards the empty street to the left of the quick little bunny.

CRACK! Went the ape's kneecap as the girl transferred the forward momentum of her sprint into a low side kick that served two purposes. The first was to disable the great big ape using the pain of a shattered knee cap. The second purpose was to reduce the girl's forward momentum enough so that she could accurately bring the Plasma Pistol in her right hand to bear as she placed the glowing green barrel against the man's gut.

When all was said and done, Mercy continued her run towards the Poseidon Energy garage and left the glowing green remains of the burly simian/man collapsing into a puddle.

"VERA!!" Mercy yelled as she reached the breached doorway, listening for any hint as to why the Eyebot had gone berserk.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Snip

"Well... now what?"

Ollie froze for a half second. Did, did that Deathclaw just talk? The gravelly voice sent a shiver down his spine. It shouldn't be able to do that. They didn't have lips for one thing. Maybe it was like a bird, and it was just mimicking sounds it had heard. Ollie's aim started to tremble, as the Deathclaw took a threatening step forward. Beside him, Anna was completely petrified by the abomination.

Ollie glanced down to the rest of the group. All of them were staring, dumbfounded at the event taking place against the backdrop of a burning horizon. The Deathclaw took another step towards them. It looked quizzical, or as quizzical as a ferocious mutant Chameleon with eyes the color of death itself could look. It raised a scaly eyebrow, flashing some of its horrifically long fangs.

Still reeling, Ollie dropped his carbine, it had been useless. He pulled his lucky revolver out, the Governator, as he called it, named after its model. He held the gun to the Deathclaw. Then he did something he was certain he was going to regret, but needed to do. "Can, can you talk? What the hell are you?"

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Knucklehead "safe"house

Tessa slowly regained consciousness only for her body to remind her of the amount of pain that she was in. She was in a precarious situation, to put it lightly, since she was suspended from the ceiling by chains binding and subsequently cutting into her wrists. To prevent any sort of counter-attack on her part, she quickly discovered that her ankles were bound in a similar chained manner. The more she struggled, the more blood loss she suffered from the wound in her thigh, not to mention how her shoulders felt were about to dislocate.

She was only a few centimetres aways from her captor's face, he was smelling her whilst humming to himself. The humming grew louder and his eyes flew open. "Do you know why you've been brought here? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE JEOPARDIZED!?"

Her breathing was ragged and her body ached in more ways than one, her heart was racing and she attempted to steady her breathing in between speaking. "...N-No."

Grabbing her chin, Tessa was forced to face the tattooed man. He appeared to be studying her. "You don't know how things work here, do you? The Knuckleheads OWN Cheyton. Today was our...MY...ticket into their ranks!" With a swift punch to the stomach, his hand clenched down around her throat. "But you and your little flying toy just had to pull a stunt like that and ruin our plan."

Coughing, Tessa managed to choke out a few words. "I...I didn't know it was your turf!"

"No! This is Knucklehead turf, we run their supplies and you..." he pointed with conviction. "Well, you just pissed off some big-hitters in a game that you aren't ready to play. I hope you like looking over your shoulder...you know what, let me save you the trouble and remove that head of yours from your shoulders."

It was at that point that she felt the edge of her blade press against her throat. Tessa may not have been an honorable person, she'd be the first to admit that. She lived her life by strict rules and flexible justifications. She was not one of the good guy's. But she did.not.deserve.to.die.in.a.fucking.cesspool. "Do your worst, you're a child compared to what I've seen." If she was going to die, then she was going to do so while standing her ground.

"NO! You're meant to resist and complain, you make me so mad! But I like that about you, but I hate you for being so stubborn." dropping the blade to the floor, the man picked up a nearby shotgun and obliterated her knife. "Your leg is next. But not before -" he grabbed what was crudely left of her blade and buried it into her leg, pushing it deeper. "THIS!"

Screaming in agony, Tessa's vision grew dark as the pain obliterated any grip she had on staying conscious. It seemed that our Rabbit has a very low pain tolerance.

The next part she was not conscious for, the men had heard an overwhelming amount of barks and growls from the outside. Given orders to investigate the disturbance, the three men readied their weapons and bust open the door to the outside.

I'm sure the following events could be better explained from a different perspective.

 

[FalloutJack]

The words of Malkos were an approximation of speech reproduced via mouth, tongue, and heavy larynx use where there would be no lips. It WAS a bit like parrotting, but he made an effort to get it right, having heard people before and tried to reproduce their sounds. The process took a considerable amount of work for him and his kind. Some were better than others, but he had to be among the best because of his heritage. It was a command, AND a tradition, that he go forth and perfect the art of speech.

And this one act had most definitely confused the humans, which was part of the point, aside from being impressive as hell in the means to get beyond their fire wall. If a Deathclaw could grin anymore than their wicked teeth would allow, he would. They were shocked - Shocked! - that speech was going on in this creature. One of them decided to point a rather impressive - he assumed - weapon out and pointed it straight at him. Yeah, that was going to work. It's not like he could duck behind the fire right now. But then...

"Can, can you talk? What the hell are you?"

It tilted its head at Ollie for a moment. Was the human attempting to reason with him? The Deathclaw held out it claws hands in what could possibly be recognized as a dramatic gesture...and spoke again.

"I...am Malkos, a scholar of the Goris Clan. I am the creature you fear, with a mind...and a voice! I accept my place in the world, though. So again...I ask, now what?"

 

[TheDoctor455]

Knucklehead's safehouse
Three more thugs ran out from the little armpit of a hut. The dogs swarmed all of the thugs, biting at their arms and legs. Not doing any real damage through the thugs' leather, and in some cases, metal armor... but it was enough of a distraction for Vera to start deleting names and vaporizing ass.

Vera fired her laser at a nearby thug in leather armor, he burst into flames and started rolling on the ground, screaming.

Vera fired her laser at the next thug, his unarmored head turned to ash in an instant before what remained of it blew away in the wind, leaving a cauterized neck-stump behind.

Vera fired her laser at a third thug, again in leather armor, this one clearly didn't die, but he wasn't stupid, he just crumpled to the ground and only moved to fend off dogs trying to tear out his throat. Vera ignored him.

Vera fired her laser at a fourth thug, this one in metal armor. It took several blasts from her laser to do it, but eventually, the thug's armor started burning through his clothing and then, cooked him alive. He died, slowly.

Vera fired her laser at the last thug, a guy in flashy metal armor. The leader probably. Him... Vera got right on the nose, blasting it out of existence, some of the ash blew away in the wind, some went down his throat. Vera fired at the same spot, sending the laser all the way through to the back of his head. He fell to the ground, dead.

It was then that the little eyebot heard a kind of pained gurgling from the hut. Vera turned off her emitter and rushed into the building. Then... she saw what those bastards had done to her new sister.

If robots could cry, Vera would be doing it now. Instead, she let out a series of panicked beeps, chimes, and loud chirps... as much to signal for help as to express her panic.

Vera searched her databanks for a manual on her mutlitool, searching for some possible application of it or the precision laser to stop the blood pouring out of Tessa's throat.

Vera found none.

 

[RobDaBank]

Fair Wanderings

Kaiden had kept quiet as he was ushered towards the makeshift infirmary, and set the boy onto the bed for the doctor to examine. He watched as he had expertly gone from patient to patient, prioritizing worst cases first. He was visibly experienced. As the young boys brother, Quint, walked in, Kaiden feared he would be angry and take it out on him, but instead upon finding out what had happened he actually hugged him.

The last time Kaiden had been hugged was by a young man pleading with him to release him. Kaiden had been dragging him to the vats, ready for dipping. Under the Master's influence Kaiden simply picked him up and threw him in. Unfortunately the dipping was not a success, and the result was a severely out of control Super Mutant that Kaiden subsequently had to destroy with a flamer. It was then that he decided that once he had the chance he would escape the Master and never harm a person again where possible.

"You are a good man doctor" He said, snapping out of his flashback. "My people could use a man of your talents... Speaking of which, I must be going soon, I must warn them of these attackers. I had thought the Legion destroyed but it appears they are as strong as ever" He would have left then and there, however he also felt compelled to ask. "Before I leave, can I aid you any further?"

 

[Ruedyn]

Cheyton, gates

The two arrived at the checkpoint, leading to their destination. Several armed men sat playing cards and passing the time, a few attentive guards bothered pointing rifles at Paul, but not Markus. Perhaps they had noticed the dried blood stains on Paul's duster and glove. The two wanderers approached carefully, hands in the air, as more sprang up, a few jogging over to frisk the two.

"Where the hell did this guy get power armor? And fucking energy weapons?!"

"Devil's Tower." Markus said, before returning to silence as the guard returned to looking through the backpacks.

"We came here to sell most this stuff, we sure as hell can't use it." he shrugged, and got his weapons back, the pick returned to his back while his sword went to his side after a moment of close inspection. Markus got his rifle back, though showed less affection than Paul, still a bit annoyed it had jammed earlier. He made a mental note of finding someone who could repair the blasted thing.

The city looked... Well, about like any other city the two had seen. Small, rusty, barely constrained aggression leaking from it's every inhabitant. So, a home for now. Markus went to the vendors with all the loot they didn't want from Devil's Tower, and Paul took off to the nearest bar. He opened the door, quietly as he could and almost ran towards the barkeep. He ordered Vodka and a nuka cola, a combination only he liked, and looked around the place, keeping his hand on his sword.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Snip

Anna hissed at Ollie. "What the fuck are you doing!? That thing is a fucking killer, and you want to talk to it?"

Not taking his eyes off of Malkos, Ollie responded through gritted teeth. "If it can talk, chances are it can reason too. Work with me on this."

The flames were still billowing up the hill, pushing the Nightmares further and further away from the Deathclaw. They would burn out in time, but the flames also had the unfortunate side effect of pushing Malkos towards the two Khans as well. Ollie gripped the Governator even more tightly, trying to keep his arms from shaking. He was putting on a brave face, but beneath the visage, he was terrified. Predators could smell fear, and this put him at a major disadvantage to Malkos. But if a Deathclaw could reason, perhaps it could also have a sense of honour.

"If you can talk, and you know your place in the world," said Ollie, testing the waters slightly. "then why not be on your way and we stop putting holes through you? You've already got your Tauros I smell (I was wondering what that scent was last night), so you don't need more food. This isn't any 'Claw territory that I know of. How does that sound to you?"

Below, the rest of the Khans couldn't quite believe what they were seeing. The two Rattlers, still shackled together, were beginning to creep down towards the riverbank. This might be their only chance to get away while the suicidal man spoke with a mutie. Once they were in the water, it would be smooth sailing.

 

[FalloutJack]

Fire!

You wouldn't think that a Deathclaw could narrow its eyes at you, but it could...and Malkos did, at Ollie. Then, for a moment, it adopted a...thoughtful position: Hand to its chin with two clawed fingers resting against the side of its face while the other arm cradled the first one at the elbow. The low growl that the Deathclaw emitted could be perceived as "Hmmmm..." as he gave this soe thought. True, the Tauros herd he'd frightened north was his and to be preyed upon by Deathclaws young and old. However, the hunt is a never-ending process. It keeps the skills sharp and the prey all the ore satisfying to sink your teeth into. Besides, who knows when that herd would escape? These Nightmares could be his, if only he kept running them North. However, there was a more problematic issue right here...

While his speaking had shocked them all into complacency - as he knew it would - he had made an error in judgement: Identifying himself as a member of a clan. He had referred to himsself as a scholar, in a manner which could be...uhhh...what was the word? Construed! It would be construed that he was one thinking Deathclaw among many, which was in fact true. This could endanger the clan. He should have thought of that, but he wanted to shock them more. The truth is that the Goris Clan was not always as bold as other Deathclaws. Knowledge of one's own mortality made them more deadly, but it halted them from suicide charges that many of their kind make even against a heavily-armed foe. He could not allow them kill his clan out of truly-understandable fear. But then, what was a Deathclaw to do? He let his arms drop after a minute.

"There are many ways to stop holes from going through me, and your mounts still run. What guarantee will you give that a hunt for my kind will not happen later?"

Then, because he noticed the two Rattlers moving, he turned to the and the staring crowd and said...

"Your meat is leaving."

...because he naturally assumed they were a sort of pack lunch for the people down there.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

"There are many ways to stop holes from going through me, and your mounts still run. What guarantee will you give that a hunt for my kind will not happen later?"

"What kind of an idiot goes looking for Deathclaws?" asked Ollie, still amazed that this conversation was even happening. "Seriously, you're the first one we've seen in these parts ever. As far as we knew, the nests were over in the Rockies. What are you doing out this far east?"

"Your meat is leaving." growled Malkos, glancing down at the others. Ollie's head turned to where Malkos had pointed. Their two captives were scuttling away, still tied together.

"Harland, stop them!" he shouted. Harland spun around, gun already lining up on the Rattlers. BANG. BANG. The double barrel shotgun blasted one of the bandit's in the back, splattering his compatriot with blood. The other guy wouldn't be going anywhere now, bogged down with his partner's deadweight and no way to get loose from the corpse. Kill one to stop the other. Quick, simple, and ammo conservative.

Ollie was impressed. "Meat, huh?" he asked rhetorically. A lightbulb flashed in his mind. "No, we're not like that... Malkos, was it? No, we weren't going to eat them. We need them alive. Well, one of them, anyways. Listen, we don't need a corpse, but we do need our rides. If you want the dead one and the horses you dropped, will you let us pass out of here in peace? I can't think of anyone who would want to tangle with a 'Claw, so you wouldn't get anymore trouble from us."