closed rp Post

[assjerky]

CLOSED RP POST with okiedokies art by pignk

CODE

Comments

[assjerky]

"Well that's the question, ain't it sweetie?" He had theories, but nothing solid. Apparently young Henry rose high enough in the Vault-Tec ranks that he'd earned himself a nice little freezer to wait out the end of the world in. Meant he knew things. Meant he was headed towards something, or someone, of importance and value. "What do you think, Vaultie? Think your Daddy's juat got a mighty need for some blackjack and hookers after all that nice and sanitized vault living?"

[okiedokies]

Her brows pulled together as he called her 'sweetie' again which wasn't the first time and she wondered why he was making that a habit. Not that it mattered as much as wondering what her father was up to but the problem was that she didn't know. She had no idea who he was, after all.

"I don't know, darling," she answered with a shake of her head, her gaze drifting down as she continued to think as though she could figure the problem out. "But I'm guessing he figures there is someone there who can help him."

[assjerky]

The pet name sounded so damn earnest when she said it that the Ghoul couldn't help but laugh, hard enough that he felt an uncomfortable tickle in his chest and nearly coughed. Thankfully he swallowed it down, and just made a note to take a hit off his inhaler later, preferably when she wasn't paying much attention. Last thing he needed was her giving him those soft little concerned eyes.

"Aw, bluebell, you gettin' all sweet on me," he drawled with a quick flash of a grin that would've made a pretty girl sigh way back when he'd been smooth and handsome and famous. Now it just looked, well. Ghoulish. "That's cute." He got to his feet with a soft grunt kf effort and stretched a bit, then started picking up their camp. "Last I heard of New Vegas and the Mojave, there was a squabble for control of the Hoover Dam, 'twixt the NCR and some fucked up band of slavers and psychos thought they was resurrecting old Rome. Dunno how it turned out. In favor of the NCR, I had to guess. Reckon we'll find out."

[okiedokies]

While she blinked at the sudden laughter, she also couldn’t help the small but pleased smile that graced her lips at getting such a reaction out of him. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it? It meant they were getting along, a fact that was further cemented by the fact he had covered her with a jacket when he thought she was cold during being asleep. Getting along meant possibly being friends and then maybe he would be less likely to use her as bait. Fingers crossed.

Then he was declaring she was sweet on him which made her blink before she replied. “Well, you started it. So that must mean you’re sweet on me.”

Now that she was done the skewer, she rose to her feet quickly to help him. Never let it be said that she wasn’t helpful! She skirted around the dog, stepping closer to the Ghoul without thinking about it as she helped him to put out the fire. At one point, her arm brushed his as she murmured a polite ‘excuse me’ while she looked around to make sure they had everything. Then she grabbed her pack to pull it on, looking at him again. “Why would they squabble over the Hoover Dam?”

[assjerky]

The Ghoul considered remarking that he bet she'd taste real sweet, but decided it was better to quit while he was ahead.

He scooped up his saddlebag and checked the pocket real quick for reassurance that, yes, his box of vials was still there, then clicked his tongue at Dogmeat so she'd trot into step beside them. "Why you think, sweetheart?" He drawled as he ambled out of the shed, casually assessing the immediate vicinity just to make sure nothin' and nobody were layin' in wait. "Control of the territory. That there dam is the power source of the Mojave. Control the Hoover, control the Wasteland."

[okiedokies]

She would have to tell him that she was told she tasted sweet but then that would bring up things they probably shouldn't talk about even though she had no issue talking about sex.

Shifting her pack to her back, she made sure it was secure and that she had everything before she set after him. Blinking a bit when they stepped out of the shack, she briefly shielded her eyes against the rising sun until her sight had adjusted. Dropping her hand to the side, she nodded. "I suppose it makes sense when you put it that way."

"Who is the NRC?" She asked, falling in step beside him on the other side of where Dogmeat was walking.

[assjerky]

Hard to say if he'd mean it more in a sexual or cannibalistic sense. (Mostly the first, maybe just a touch of the second)

The Ghoul didn't have the patience to walk her through 200 years of history--nor did he think it entirely necessary. "Well sweetheart, that'd be the folks your daddy dropped a big ass bomb on," he drawled, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Shady Sands? That was the first capital city of the New California Republic." He tucked his tongue against his cheek, whistled at Dogmeat as she started to follow a scent trail to bring her back to their sides. "Makes you wonder why he'd be marching towards their territory, don't it? Makes you wonder what he knows and we don't."

[okiedokies]

Maybe it was best not to think about it. (But it might be existing in the back of her head somewhere.)

Even though she hadn't been the one to drop the bomb, she still felt a flicker of guilt over what her father had done and it was evident on her face. She quickly put it aside in favor of keeping going, though, using it as fuel to inspire and push her forward instead of wallowing or breaking down. She wasn't sure she could ever make up for what he had done but she wasn't going to just let it go either!

"I'm beginning to realize that he knows a lot of things we don't but at least I'm not blind to the kind of person he is now," she told him, lifting her chin somewhat defiantly.

[assjerky]

The Ghoul watched her quietly for a moment, watched all the tiny emotions play across her face--knowing too damn well exactly what was going on behind every furrowed brow and miniscule wince. Hell of a thing to cope with, finding out the person you loved was a monster, willing to let the world burn, and weren't many people who understood it. What a shitty little club they belonged to together.

"And what's his justice look like to you, Vaultie," he asked bluntly, casually fishing his inhaler out of his saddle bag. "We catch up with him, assuming a Deathclaw don't catch him first--what's the plan?"

[okiedokies]

It was the worst feeling, the kind that shook her right to the core and had her questioning everything she knew. Especially when it came to what he had done to her mother and what had happened to the woman. That kind of pain wasn’t one that she thought she could easily push away but she was trying for the sake of moving on.

Then he asked what she would do if she faced her father again and she faltered. She had been tempted to shoot him but could she?

“I will try to reason with him. Maybe I can convince him to…atone for his crimes,” she replied slowly, sounding a bit unsure of what she was saying. But everything she had been taught and raised to believe in told her that was what she should do. Then she blinked up at him, seeming to register something else he had said and looking a bit horrified. “What is a deathclaw?”

[assjerky]

The Ghoul heaved a sigh, but before he could bite off a cutting remark he took a hit off of his inhaler. Let the drugs sink into his lungs and rush to his head, keeping his mind clear for another undetermined stretch of time. He had a feeling her question was an attempt to shift the subject, but he wasn't letting it shift. "Atone to who, sweetheart? Vault-Tec? He is fuckin' Vault-Tec. The NCR? You saw what they've turned into at the Griffith Observatory. Ain't hardly better than Raiders from the looks of things. Your buddy in the Brotherhood? They don't give a shit 'bout nothin' but their metal suits and whatever scraps of shiny they can dig up and keep for themselves."

It was a hard truth, but she needed to fuckin' learn it. Still, his tone did soften a bit after a brief pause. "All's I'm saying, darlin', is the only person what deserves to hold him accountable, is you. Time comes, whatever happens, it's gon' be in your hands."

[okiedokies]

The truth was that she didn't know who her father should atone to and it seemed that the Ghoul had the same thoughts, giving voice to her doubts as she looked at him with a quietly haunted gaze. Then she couldn't look at him anymore as her lashes flickered and her gaze drifted away, focusing on the endless stretch of desert and hell before them.

It seemed she was learning all kinds of hard truths and it settled in her soul like cold shards of glass. But maybe he was right, maybe it was to her that her father would have to atone to. Her and her brother.

"I...we have to find him first," she stated slowly, a small part of her hoping that it wouldn't come to that but she had a feeling she wouldn't be so lucky.

[assjerky]

The Ghoul made a low sound, little more than a grunt of acknowledgement as he tucked his inhaler away. "Yeah, that we do," he agreed casually. "And that's gon' take time. Reckon plenty of time to figure all that out."

Was it though? He'd had 200 years, and he still didn't know what he'd do or say to Barb. He'd played the scenario in his head many times, with many different outcomes, depending on his mood. Still couldn't stick to anything for certain. Glass houses and stones and all that, so he let the subject drop there.

"As for the deathclaws, well. What pops in your head when you hear a word like 'deathclaw' s'likely close to the truth. Ain't something we need to mess with."

[okiedokies]

"You don't sound so sure," she said softly, seeming to pick up on some of his internal struggles and questions as she watched him while he tucked his inhaler away. She could almost feel bad for his dependency on the meds inside the inhaler, guessing they were the ones that she had left him after escaping the organ harvester.

Then she sighed because he wasn't telling her what a Deathclaw was and she figured that said a lot. "I'm guessing the chance of them being soft and cuddly is very low."

"Are they big? Small? What sort of animal do they look like? Do they even look like an animal?" She started to rattle off the questions after giving him only a minute of silence. Clearly, she was picturing all sorts of things at the moment and couldn't settle on an answer until he gave her more to go on.

[assjerky]

The remark got no response beyond a quick side-glance and a twitch of the ridge where an eyebrow used to be. It wasn't gonna be that easy to pry the bits of his innermost thoughts and feelings out of him. "Big enough to rip a fella in half. Reptilian. Bipedal. Horns and big ass teeth and claws. They don't hunt folk, as a rule. We stay out of their way and they'll stay out of ours. S'true of most things in the Wasteland. Just ain't always possible."

[okiedokies]

Maybe it wouldn't be that easy right away but she was going to work on it over the time they spent together. Mostly because she wanted to know more about him and what drove him to make the choices that he did like his idea of the golden rule. She was beginning to realize that she had to be subtle about it though, or at least as subtle as she could be.

"And you know how to stay out of their way?" She looked at him somewhat hopefully, her eyes wide as he decided that she didn't want to run into a Deathclaw whatsoever.

[assjerky]

"Still alive, ain't I?" He wanted to be annoyed by her constant badgering, but she brought up a decent enough point, now that her chattering forced him to think about it. "Course I ain't been out this way in a while. Used to be, you stay the hell away from I15 and follow what's left of the 95 to New Vegas, you avoid the worst of the critters. That was 'fore Shady Sands got turned into a crater and the NCR kept the highway clear. Ain't sure the state of things now. Oughta be able to get the lay of the land in Goodsprings."

[okiedokies]

"And Goodsprings is a town? I can get new clothes there?" Lucy asked, feeling a bit strange about the idea of not wearing her vault suit anymore but she needed not to stand out so much. Glancing down at herself, she gave a thoughtful frown as she tried to imagine wearing something else.

She licked her lips as she glanced over at him again, tilting her head slightly. "How can we get the clothes? I don't have any of the currency used up here."

[assjerky]

"Caps, sweetheart." He glanced at her with a soft huff that might've been a sound of amusement. "They're called caps. But they ain't the only thing worth tradin' for. Lots of scavenging to be done twixt here and there. Food, hide, water, spare parts, scrap metal." He glanced down at the Pip Boy on her wrist and jerked his chin. "Could trade that fuckin' thing in for a chunk of caps, you get desperate enough. 'Nough to buy whatever the fuck you want." He hated the sight of it, just as much as the fuckin' vault suit, but even he'd have to reluctantly admit it was useful.

[okiedokies]

"I'm not selling this," Lucy protested, covering the Pip-Boy with one hand as though that would block it from his view and chase that idea right out of his head. She didn't know why he hated it so much but it was a useful device, especially for detecting radiation among other things.

"But there are things in the supplies that Vault Four gave me, I'm sure I could find something to trade," she mused a moment later, letting her hands drop to her sides while they continued on. After a while, she was starting to feel the heat of the sun above them even though it hadn't gotten very high. So her only solution was to unzip her suit part way so that she could peel down the top half, revealing the bloodied tank top that she wore underneath. She wasn't sure if it made anything better but she swore she felt a bit more of a breeze.

[assjerky]

"Still gonna need caps and shit to barter with," the Ghoul pointed out. "Gonna need supplies to make it to the next outpost." He heard the drag of the zipper and glanced behind him, eying her as she tied the top half of the suit around her waist and making no attempt to hide his appraising scrutiny. Look at her, still all pretty and smooth. Show off. And a good way to get a sunburn. Not his problem, though. "S'only gonna get hotter from here, Vaultie," he remarked, turning his gaze back in front of them. "Til the sun goes down and it fuckin' freezes. Can't say I've missed that about the Mojave."

[okiedokies]

The thing was that she was looking at him when he glanced back with an appraising look, causing her to falter as she glanced down at herself. Was there something wrong with what she was doing? She knew that she looked a little bloody and that would probably gain them some attention but she didn’t think so much as her and a ghoul travelling together.

“What’s wrong?” She asked as she glanced up at the sky, briefly shielding her eyes before looking at him again. “Should I…pull it back up?”

[assjerky]

It was only then he realized he'd sort of been openly staring, and he scoffed and rolled his eyes to cover. "The fuck makes you think I give a good goddamn what you do, Vaultie," he drawled irritably, resolutely watching Dogmeat trot ahead of them with her nose to the hard packed dirt, clearly following a trail.

[okiedokies]

Lucy blinked at the small change in his demeanour even though it was more familiar to her from what she knew of him. How he had been last night with her, his almost kind nature, had been different from the man who had used her as bait and then sold her.

But still, she studied him before she rolled her shoulders in a shrugging motion. “I didn’t think that. I just thought that maybe…it doesn’t matter. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Pressing her lips together, it seemed she was going to choose to be quiet. At least for now.

[assjerky]

That was the problem, wasn't it. Someone thinking he cared was bad. Actually caring was even worse. So the silence suited him just fine. He didn't plan to stop for more than a sip of water or a piss, but around midday he spotted something off the ruined highway and changed directions without a word. He kept an eye out for signs of radscorpions or geckos, but didn't stop until he reached a waist high cactus laden with palm sized, bright red fruit. He grasped one carefully with a gloved hand and twisted it off, fished a knife out of his pocket and made a slice along the prickly skin to peel it back. Assuming she followed him, he'd cut the prickly pear in half and offer it to her wordlessly while he ate the other half, leaning away from the cactus to spit out the seeds.