closed rp Post

[assjerky]

CLOSED RP POST with okiedokies art by pignk

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[assjerky]

The Ghoul had brought his rifle up to deal with the soldier that had rushed at him, but the Vaultie beat him to it. And judging by the meaty tearing sound that brought a sudden end to the hollering, he figured Dogmeat had effectively taken care of the third soldier. He turned towards Lucy and took a step in her direction, then froze and suddenly lifted the rifle again. For a split second seemingly pointing it at her. But before he could pull the trigger two things happened in quick succession: one, the hound that had lingered back by the campfire, that the Ghoul had forgotten about, leapt at him from nowhere and closed its jaw around his arm, causing his shot to fire skyward. And two, the Legionaire's weight suddenly fell on Lucy, as apparently, having ones jaw obliterated was more survivable than it looked, and he made some truly disturbing rage filled gurgling sounds as he tried to lock his blood soaked hands around her throat.

[okiedokies]

Lucy couldn't make sense of what was happening as she looked at the Ghoul who was suddenly training his gun...on her. Confusion rippled across her features as she looked at him quizzically before she saw the hound that wasn't Dogmeat leap at him. She opened her mouth to yell at him but then there was a crack of thunder that made her jump just before the Legionaire fell on her. Not only that but he was still alive as he did, a garbling growling noise escaping him as they crashed to the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

Then his hands were around her throat, setting off alarm bells just as her oxygen was cut off, causing her to make a choking, gasping noise as she lifted her hand. He must have guessed she was going to try shooting him as he let go of her neck long enough to hit the gun from her hand, sending pain shooting up her arm. When his hand joined the other around her neck, she knew she was in real trouble. She hit his arms, her fists punching hard at his elbows but he had them locked as he glared at her with murderous rage, blood dripping from the messed up maw that was his mouth, landing on her face and chest. As her world started to spin and fade on the edge, she reached up, clawing at the remainder of his face before she did the only thing she could do which was go for his eyes.

[assjerky]

The Ghoul would've absolutely just killed the dog, if he hadn't given the Vaultie his most accessible knife, so instead he was stuck just trying to wrench his arm away from its jaws, which he eventually managed to do and kicked it away from him. As it yelped and rolled, struggling back to its feet, Dogmeat leapt between him and the hound, snarling and baring her bloody teeth. The Ghoul didn't even see it, as he ran straight for Lucy, scooping up the machete dropped by the soldier she'd shot, and swung it at the Legionaires head and neck. It took a couple good thwacks for him to finally collapse, and the Ghoul threw his weight against his shoulder so he wouldn't tip directly on top of Lucy. Kept shoving while he grabbed her arm to tug her away from the now corpse. "Vaultie. Hey, hey, breathe, s'all right, fucker's dead."

[okiedokies]

She heard the Legionaire make a terrible garbling sound as something squished beneath her thumbs but she didn't think about it. It was hard to think when her head was roaring and her chest was aching as though there was a great weight on it, more than his weight. Then he was gone and she could suck in air which immediately set her coughing as she rolled to her side, the world spinning faster as the muscles in her throat contracted. Then she was being hauled away from the body of the man, twisting to try pushing away from whoever it was until she registered that it was the Ghoul. Still trying to suck in air, she collapsed against him as she blinked away the tears and looked around. "Did...we..get them...all?"

[assjerky]

"It's me--Lucy, it's me," the Ghoul half-snarled as she instinctively tried to push away from him in a panic. He laid a hand on her back as she sagged against him, coughing and hacking to catch her breath, and assessed their surroundings quickly. "If they ain't dead yet, they will be," he sneered, taking back the knife he'd given her before shifting to steady her in a sitting position. "Shit," he grumbled, making a fruitless effort to swipe some of the gory mess from her chest and face, his lips curling in anger at the bruises he could already seen forming around her throat. "Stay here. Gotta take care of this fucking dog." He shifted the knife to his other hand and took out his gun, striding over to the hound that Dogmeat had cowed, clearly intending to shoot it.

[okiedokies]

"I'm okay," she coughed as he started wiping at her face, wrinkling her nose as she hated the feel of the blood being smeared across her face even though the pain in her throat was worse at the moment. She was mentally kicking herself too because she shouldn't have taken her attention off the Legionaire until she knew he was actually dead. Wiping her hand across her mouth, she looked down at herself until she heard that he was going to take care of the dog.

"No!" She hurried forward to grab his arm. "Don't shoot it, it was just doing what it was trained to do." She looked at the dog who was looking at them warily before looking at Dogmeat who was just watching it. "We could take him or her with us."

[assjerky]

It wasn't her fault, it was his. He should've been dead on the first shot. One of the many reasons why he was so fuckin' pissed. Her sudden plea for the damn dog's life certainly didn't help.

"Are you fuckin' serious??" He lowered his gun and turned back to her, fuming. "You wanna pick up another fuckin' stray?? Somethin' else to fuckin' feed and fret after and keep alive??" Was he talking about the dog anymore? Who could say. He flicked the hammer on the pistol and shoved it back into the holster, swearing up a storm under his breath as he stalked over to one of the other soldiers and dragged the knife across their throat to make sure they were dead. "Do whatever the fuck you want, Vaultie, but don't come cryin' to me when you get bit," he snapped, beginning the process of stripping the body for anything useful.

[okiedokies]

Lucy winced as he whirled around to snarl at her and she lowered her gaze as she realized there was a very good chance that he wasn't talking about the dog. The dog was just a stand-in for the person he was actually mad at, whether it be at her or at himself. But it also crossed her mind that he was pissed off because he cared but did she dare entertain that idea?

Clearing her throat as she massaged the side of her neck, she looked around at the bodies that surrounded them now and sighed. She might as well get to looking them over as well since she couldn't just stand there and pout. So she went to the body at the one that had run at her with the machete. She bent down to pick up the blade, looking it over before deciding that it could be useful. Then, she turned her head slightly, not quite looking as she sliced the man's throat just to make sure he was dead too. It didn't sit well with her but she knew, logically, that it was better to make sure he was dead rather than risk him being a threat later.

"I'm sorry," she said softly a few moments later, not quite looking at the Ghoul as she continued to check the body over. "I should have made sure to shoot him after you took him down the first time."

[assjerky]

The Ghoul didn't reply right away; he finished stripping the body, with the quick efficiency of someone who'd done it a hundred times or more. "Check for coins," he reminded her, a few jingling in his palm before he pocketed them. "Legion uses fuckin' gold and silver shit, but they trade just as well, most places."

He fell silent again, moving on to the last body, the one that Dogmeat had taken care of--didn't bother to slit his throat, though. Cause he didn't have a throat left. He was quiet still as he divested the body of money, weapons, rations, a sack full of some kind of jerky probably intended for the hound, which he carried over to Lucy and handed to her before he finally spoke. "Ain't your fault, Vaultie," he grunted. "Should've been a one shot kill. That's on me."

[okiedokies]

"Okay," she nodded, then stopped almost immediately because of the headache. Not that she was going to complain about it as she continued to search the body and then moved on to the next one. They were coming out with a pretty good haul which she knew was a good thing even though she didn't want to think about the lives they had to take in the meantime. Still, she knew that it was better them than her and the Ghoul. She didn't want to think about what would have happened to her if they had captured her and taken her to wherever they were heading.

She was looking over the weapons, the money, and the rations she had gathered together when the Ghoul came over to hand her the bag of jerky which had the dog nearby perking up. After peeking inside, she glanced up before shaking her head. "It's not your fault. Shit happens sometimes, right?"

Yes, she cursed.

[assjerky]

"Yeah." The Ghoul stared at her for a moment, then glanced over at the dog. "So what's the plan? I know you ain't got a lick of experience training hounds, Vaultie." Cause No dogs in the vaults. Yeah, 200 years later and he was still bitter, what about it. "I ain't kiddin', that fuckin thing bites me, I'm puttin' it down."

[okiedokies]

Lucy wanted to lean up to kiss him, just to reassure him that she was fine but she didn't move. Focusing on his question instead, she shrugged a little while glancing over at the dogs. "I'm going to use Dogmeat to help me. It already looks like he's trained, so we just need to get him used to us."

"Look how quickly Dogmeat attached to you," she pointed out as she withdrew a piece of jerky, broke it in two, and then tossed the pieces at the dogs who quickly caught them.

[assjerky]

"Darlin', Dogmeat's a fuckin' runaway Enclave experiment," the Ghoul replied with a sigh. "Ain't no tellin' what they done to her to make her the way she is. That right there's a wild mongrel raised up the same ways as these fucks: in fightin' pits. Killin' each other to make ranks." Which he should've realized wasn't gonna do anything to dissuade the Vaultie. If anything it'd tug her heartstrings even harder. "Look. We can see what happens. Seems like Dogmeat's done showed it who's the alpha dog. But you can't save everything with a pair of big sad eyes, Vaultie."

[okiedokies]

"It worked on you," she glanced over at him, pressing her lips together as she teased him to lighten the air between them. Or maybe it would piss him off more, she never really knew but she was trying to figure that out. But he was right in thinking that hearing how the dog had been raised would only tug at her heartstrings more.

"I promise, if it doesn't work, we'll...do something," she didn't like the idea of killing the dog but she had to make a compromise with him. "Just give it time, you'll see. If he does get attached to us, then it'll be good. They can both keep an eye out for things and warn us ahead of time if something is nearby."

She had drawn closer to the dog and now she was holding out her hand. He gave her a wary look before leaning forward to sniff at her fingers. Then he drew back, slinking closer to Dogmeat as Lucy sighed and looked down at herself. "I need to get this blood off of me."

[assjerky]

The Ghoul's eyes narrowed dangerously. He didn't like the implications of that statement, not one bit, not that he was some wild mongrel dog she thought she'd tame, or that she was a pair of sad eyes he'd gone soft on.

"Well good luck with that," he bit off, striding over to the campfire to take whatever supplies had been left there. He didn't even take the time to sort through them, just slung the bags over his shoulders and kept walking.

[okiedokies]

Lucy sighed as she watched him go, mentally kicking herself as she looked down at the dogs who both seemed to be watching her. "Well, okay then."

Looking around at the carnage, she trailed after him towards the campfire as she tried to figure out how he had gotten more pissed off at the statement. Did he think that she was comparing him to a dog or was he pissed off about her teasing him that he had used sad eyes on him to make him like her. Because, despite what had happened between them, she wasn't sure that he liked her very much at all.

Which was a dangerous spiral to start down as she stewed in her thoughts, looking around until she found a small water pouch and a cloth that she could use to wipe off her face. She was careful not to get the water in her eyes or mouth but she couldn't stand the drying blood on her face anymore. Then she wiped down her chest, glancing in the Ghoul's direction before making herself look away again. "I didn't mean to insult you."

[assjerky]

He liked her quite a bit. That was the problem. If he didn't, he wouldn't be fucking up so bad.

"Ain't sure what the fuck you did mean, then, Vaultie," he replied starkly, whistling for Dogmeat and taking his pistol out as he eyed the hound slinking behind them. "Now unless you want another group of Legion on our ass when they find these shitheads dead, we need to fuckin' move."

[okiedokies]

But that was the silly thing about it because she felt like she was the one fucking up.

Pressing a hand against the base of her throat, she swallowed gently before speaking again. Her throat ached and she could feel the heat of the marks beneath her palm but she tried to explain. "I was trying to make a joke to lighten the mood and it didn't work. I wasn't trying to imply that I used anything to make you like me or that I was trying to save you."

She hesitated as she looked at the dog. "If you...want to leave him, we can." She didn't want to but she didn't want to push her luck.

[assjerky]

"Far be it for one mongrel dog to judge another," the Ghoul drawled sarcastically, then heaved a sigh. "Just--stop talkin' so much Vaulite, you're makin' it worse." He meant her injury, mostly, but if there was double meaning, well, so be it. "The dog's either gonna follow or it won't, you done fed it and showed it a kindness." More double meaning?? Certainly not. "Just let it be. We need to make Searchlight 'fore nightfall if we can."

[okiedokies]

Lucy could recognize that he wasn't going to accept her apology right off or that maybe this was as close as she was going to get to it. She knew that sometimes people weren't comfortable with apologies, so she nodded without saying more just as he had pretty much instructed her to do.

Once they had gathered their new possessions, complete with some radiation medicine that she had found, they were on their way. Their new dog even followed when she gave a little clicking noise with her tongue like she had seen The Ghoul do plenty of times with Dogmeat. She didn't want to keep walking but she knew the Ghoul was right as they didn't need more of those guys on their heels. Not only that but the bodies would draw in any predators from nearby.

So she forged ahead without complaint or noise with their new companion on her heels.

[assjerky]

The Ghoul pushed them to keep going past sundown, powering through the drop in temperature until they spotted some lights in the distance. He'd have preferred reaching the NCR outpost on the other side of Searchlight, but it was late, cold, the Vaultie wasn't doing great, so the trailer park on the outskirts would have to do. He picked the most stable looking, unoccupied and unlocked one, climbed up the handful of steps and held the door open for Lucy. The fuckin' hound didn't seem keen on following when he was in sight, so he heaved a sigh and waited until Lucy could hold the door open herself bedore he moved further in with Dogmeat.

[okiedokies]

By the time they had reached the place he was looking for, Lucy was drained, feeling like each step was like slugging through mud but she kept pushing herself. It was getting easier to keep going over time but the fight had done a number on her, so she was relieved when he found a place to stop for the night. Following him, she stopped at the door as he went in, glancing over her shoulder to click her tongue so the new dog would follow her inside.

Shutting the door, she looked around while pulling out a bigger piece of jerky she tore in half. Offering one piece to the dog, she pointed to a spot and urged him to go lay down. After that, she trailed off in the direction the Ghoul had gone. "Are we stopping until morning?"

[assjerky]

The Ghoul had gone into the kitchen and was messing with the sink to see if the water was working. It was--cold as shit, but it was. Honestly, cole as shit might be better. "Yep." He reached behind him and dragged a metal chair closer. "Sit."

[okiedokies]

Lucy walked over to the table that was tucked in the corner of the room and set down the bags she had been carrying. A little sigh of relief escaped her almost as soon as she set the weight down, rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the aches until he instructed her to sit. Giving a curious look, she wandered over to the metal chair and sat down. "What are you doing?"

[assjerky]

"Does talking make your crushed windpipe feel better, or have you considered, I don't know, shuttin' the fuck up," the Ghoul drawled, only half serious, wringing out a water soaked towel. He turned to her and layed the cold cloth carefully over the bruises, encircling her neck. "Ice'd be better, but I ain't got it. Can't remember the last time I even seen it. This and a shot of Med-X will have to do."