closed rp Post

[assjerky]

CLOSED RP POST with okiedokies art by pignk

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[assjerky]

The questions gave the Ghoul pause for a moment, the steady scratch of knife against wood stilling for a moment before he exhaled a quiet sigh and flipped the pocket knife closed. Didn't much care for how close it all hit to home, and he'd had 200 years to find the damn answer and here he was. Still fuckin' looking. Should've just kept his own trap shut and let her brood.

"Like I told you, sweetheart. There's what a fella does, and what he says he does." He laid his hand on Dogmeat's head and absently scritched the bristly fur on the back of her neck. "But sooner or later they gon' show you who they are. And when they do, you believe 'em."

[okiedokies]

Maybe he thought that keeping quiet would have saved him from her brooding but it was more than likely that the words would have come tumbling out eventually. His response was so blunt and yet logical. It pained her as she thought of how her image of her father had changed but the Ghoul was right, her father had shown his true self.

She drew in a breath before falling silent and stating that way for a few minutes. Long enough for the sound of rain to fill the shack as she stared at out the strange hazy colors, knowing it would be dangerous to be out there but finding it beautiful.

Then she turned away from the door and moved to sit near him. Not too close as she was keeping Dogmeat between them but close enough. “So are you an honest man?”

[assjerky]

The Ghoul made a noise that, coming from someone with a proper nose, might've been a snort of a laugh. Instead it was just a soft whoosh of air and a slight grumble in the back of his throat. "I lied to you yet, darlin'?" Avoided an uncomfortable question or two, maybe, but that weren't the same as lying. And 'honest' was different than 'good,' or 'nice.' He'd never claim to be either. But honest? Well. He was nothing if not an honest monster.

He flicked the stick he'd sharpened out of boredom into the fire, then reached into his pack for a handful of small crab apples he'd stripped from a shrub in passing. "They ain't the prettiest," he remarked as he tossed her one of the mottled, hard little fruits. "But they'll do. An' you'll figure out real quick in this here Wasteland, that pretty's as likely to get you dead as ugly is."

[okiedokies]

“No,” Lucy answered with a quick little shake of her head. “You have been a bit of a…jerk but you haven’t lied yet.”

Because he had been honest about what he had wanted from her before between using her as bait and then selling her. He hadn’t lied though, not as far as she could tell. Also, yes, she was naive but she wouldn’t call him ‘good’ and yet she was starting to understand that things weren’t so black and white anymore.

She was pondering still when she caught movement from him and glanced up with just enough time to catch the crab apple that he tossed her way. If she looked surprised at the offering, she couldn’t help it. At one time, he had refused to share his water with her and now he was sharing food. The surprise added to curiosity as she looked at the small apple, turning it this way and that before she glanced at him again.

“I know that. It sucks up here,” she told him honestly before sighing and taking a bite of the apple. The sour taste exploded over tongue, causing her to blink as her jaw was filled with a sort of strange ache and she quickly swallowed in response. It wasn’t entirely distasteful but it was different than anything she had tried before. Her cheeks hollowed out just a bit as she sucked at the remaining juices lingering in her mouth, making a bit of a face. Then she continued on after clearing her throat. “But at least it’s honest about what it is. There’s no hiding anything up here.”

And with that, she took another bite of her food because beggars couldn’t be choosers.

[assjerky]

The Ghoul chuckled, taking a bite into his own crab apple; most of his taste and smell had went even before his nose, but he could catch a hint here and there. Sour, sweet, bitter, salt...he was used to it, mostly. "You mean asshole, sweetie, you can say asshole," he quipped, licking his lips and wiping a dribble of juice off his chin. He'd never claimed to be otherwise. He eyed her over another bite while he chewed the mealy, tart flesh, paused to lean over and spit out a seed. "That why you ain't crawlin' on back to the vault? Coulda just buried that pretty little head in the sand and pretend you never saw this big mean ol' ugly world." Instead, she was here. With his cantankerous ass. Chasing her daddy to the Mojave.

[okiedokies]

“You can say it,” she gave a little sniff at him, lifting her chin ever so slightly in a way that pretty much dismissed the idea of her saying such a word. He could say it though and she could somewhat agree with him without actually saying it out loud.

She peeked sideways at him as a bit of juice dribbled down his chin, the wetness standing out against the leathery skin until he dashed it away. Biting the inside of her cheek, she lowered her gaze and took another bite of her apple. The taste wasn't as shocking the second time around but her jaw still ached in a weirdly pleasant but uncomfortable way. As though she was craving something that wasn’t good for her.

“No, I couldn’t because then I would be no better than he is,” she told him with the same tone though she didn’t sniff at him this time. She sounded irritable and sullen, hurt. “What he did to my mother, to all those innocent people? I can’t just ignore that.”

[assjerky]

"Oh sure 'nough I will, whensoever the occasion calls for it," the Ghoul chuckled, his leathery skin crinkling with a sly grin. Absently he wondered what it would take for little miss priss to sully her mouth with a filthy word or two. He'd admittedly been a little out of it at the time, but he was fairly sure he'd heard her say 'motherfucker' as she sashayed away from him outside the Super Duper Mart.

He finished the rest of the hard little apple and threw the core across the room, which Dogmeat thought was a fine game of fetch and took off the chase it, snuffling in the dead leaves and debris. "Sure you could, darlin'," he drawled, taking out his canteen and to wash back the sour fruit taste. He took a deep drink and tipped the canteen towards her; that lesson had been well learned, but she was gonna have to adapt to the amount of rads on the surface. Still, she had any of that fancy pure vault water on her, he wouldn't take offense. "Folks do it all the time, every day. Always have. Ain't that much shit changed from 'fore the bombs dropped."

[okiedokies]

"Well, don't make yourself run out of oxygen doing so," Lucy made the quip so quickly that it almost surprised her but then she couldn't stop the hint of a smirk that peeked out before she hid it by taking another bite of her apple. Yes, she had actually sworn at him just once, mostly to make her point, but she was fine if he didn't remember that particular interaction. Except that she had a sneaky feeling he did considering the way he was looking at her.

It struck her as weird then that they were sitting there in a cozy little shack, sitting around a small fire and talking almost like they were friends. Not that they were considering what he had put her through but there was an uneasy alliance forming between them. All centered around her dad.

So what was the Ghoul's tie to her father?

She wondered about it but she didn't ask because she wasn't sure how much she wanted to know right now. She knew she needed to know eventually but she needed time to compartmentalize so she didn't fall apart. It wouldn't do her any good to do that.

"I could but I won't," she shook her head at him again as she tossed the core aside after finishing her small apple. She paused, licking her lips slowly to chase away the juices before realizing that he was looking at her and offering the canteen. She blinked slowly, pressing her lips together before reaching over with a sigh to take the canteen from him. "And just because they do doesn't give me the right to do the same. I can't forget what I know now, no matter how much I would like to just go home and forget. There would be too many questions about why I came back without my father and...I don't think I could live with him the same way if he came back too."

[assjerky]

The Ghoul made a quiet sound, low and thoughtful in the back of his throat, taking the now mangled and drooly apple core from Dogmeat when she brought it back proudly. With a sniff of amusement, he dropped it to the floor next to him instead of tossing it, lest Dogmeat start thinking it was a grand game of fetch. He didn't repeat himself to the Vaultie; she absolutely could choose to bury it all. Sometimes, he wondered how things would be if he'd done that, all those years ago. Pretended he'd never heard the words that came out of Barb's mouth. He glanced at the Vaultie again, studying her in the low firelight, with her enormous doe eyes and perfect unbroken skin that hadn't been battered and aged by the rads and the sun. All righteous and full to the brim with integrity. Even that damn vault suit was still brighter and shinier than it should be. His brow creased and his lips twisted into a scowl.

"...That's the case, no point in you holdin' on to those eyesore pajamas. Don't do nothing but put a target on your back, sweetheart. And, by proximity, mine." He chuffed softly and leaned back, letting his hat tip down to cover his eyes, just to rest them for a spell. "Have to find you somethin' else first, I reckon, less you feel like streakin' through the desert."

[okiedokies]

Lucy blinked down at herself as he mentioned her eyesore pajamas, studying the bright blue fabric as she felt her stomach clench with a sort of dread. She knew that he was right though because it most definitely made her stand out and she was coming to realize that there were very few who liked Vaulties, as the Ghoul called them. But it felt weird too, to think about stripping away another piece of her identity.

"You're probably right," she sighed in defeat a moment later, her gaze flicking up to him as he leaned back and moved his hat to cover his eyes as though he were choosing to rest now that he had commented on her clothes.

"I don't really have the caps to buy new clothes though," she frowned, her brows pulling together over her 'doe eyes' as she plucked gently at the open zipper. "And where could I buy new ones around here?"

[assjerky]

"Scavenge 'em. Trade for 'em." Steal 'em, but she probably weren't ready for the conversation just yet. "Suits ain't entirely useless, somebody'll take it off your hands." He frowned beneath the cover of his hat, rustling through his mental map of the Wasteland he'd been wandering for centuries. "Reckon the next town along the highway is Goodsprings. Might be a trader 'twixt here and there. Might get lucky and stumble over a closet ain't been picked clean. Wouldn't count on it, though." He tipped his hat back up just enough to glance over her again. There were some smudges beneath her eyes that he hoped were just fatigue, and not rad poisoning. "May as well get some shut eye, Vaultie. Storm don't look like it's passing for a few hours yet."

[okiedokies]

She pursed her lips briefly as she could almost hear the option that he didn't say and she wondered what it said about her that she briefly considered it. Maybe it was just another sign she was sliding into a darker side of herself but she pushed away the idea as she looked towards the door again, biting the inside of her cheek when she relaxed her lips.

He brought up a good point though as he suggested that she try getting some shut-eye. She looked doubtful over the idea but she did sit up to look around for her backpack, grabbing it and pulling it over so she could use it as a sort of pillow.

"Should we take shifts in keeping watch?" She asked, glancing at him again.

[assjerky]

The Ghoul made a vague noise of agreement, knowing full well he had no plans on waking her up until it was time to get moving. Nature of his condition combined with the chems, he didn't need a lot of sleep, and Dogmeat would pick up on anything dangerous before he would. He did, however, nudge his hat back so the brim was no longer obscuring his vision. "Take a nap, bluebell," he repeated, one corner of his lips quirking. "S'one thing rain's good for. Best sleep you'll ever have." Something she'd never have experienced in the vault--at least not the real thing. Recordings just weren't the same.

[okiedokies]

The new name caused her lashes to flutter as it was almost strangely sweet even though she knew he didn't mean it that way. It was more than likely an allusion to her suit but she didn't mind as she met his gaze briefly, offered a small smile, and then went back to making herself comfortable.

But he was right as there was something incredibly soothing about the sound of rain falling, so it wasn't long before her eyes started drifting closed. She was nearly asleep once when Dogmeat suddenly got up and walked over to her, taking the empty spot beside Lucy which caused her to blink awake in surprise for a second until she wrapped an arm around the dog to keep the animal close.

That combined with the rain, and feeling strangely safe at the moment, it didn't take long for Lucy to drift off completely.

[assjerky]

That...and the big ol' wet eyes like a baby calf, innocently trotting off to the slaughter. His brow quirked as the dog abandoned his side to snuggle in against the Vaultie, a soft puff of air escaping from the hole where his nose had been. "Playin' favorites," he mumbled with some amusement. Well. He supposed he had stabbed the poor gal once, so no offense taken.

The small fire died to embers as the Vaultie and the dog napped, and the Ghoul took the opportunity to clean his guns. He didn't usually have downtime when traveling. At least not because of some rad rain. Not for the first time did he second guess his actions in encouraging the Vaultie to tag along when she was most definitely gonna slow him down.

But she'd saved his sorry life. No, more than that. What was left of his mind and sanity. He'd have been a rabid dog to be put down but for all that fuckin' morality of hers. He hated thinking on it too hard, made his teeth itch. Only way he'd lived this long was holding on to a single driving motivation and fuck everything that didn't serve it. And intentional or not she'd shown him a sliver of what he used to be: the very same fuckin' model of a naive idiot with a conscience.

See, this was why he hated downtime. Annoyed, he shoved to his feet and strolled over to the doorway, peering out to check the weather. The rain was thinning, but it wouldn't be passing fast enough to make moving on worth it. It'd be too dark to travel much further, and the shed was a decent camp. They could get an earlier start to make up for lost time. Still irritating, but manageable.

He went back to the smoldering embers and sat back down. Bereft of much else to do but wait, he watched the Vaultie sleep. Figured you could learn a thing or two about a person by how they slept. Were they still or fitful? Did they snore, droll, twitch or mumble? Sleep with the proverbial one eye open, reacting to every little noise? The privileged little vault life she'd led, he couldn't imagine she didn't sleep like a stone. But she had an annoying habit of being a surprise.

[okiedokies]

Lucy would be somewhat horrified if he told her that she snored but, thankfully, that wasn't the case. Her breathing was soft and steady as she sank further into the darkness, hoping there would be no dreams waiting for her. Or nightmares considering everything she had learned over the last few weeks.

She seemed to sleep deeply too, except for the fact that there was movement beneath her eyelids, almost like she was looking this way and that, possibly searching for something. That and she did move slightly when Dogmeat shifted so the dog could watch the Ghoul closely when he moved around. Not that the young woman moved much but her hand shifted, her fingers flexing briefly before relaxing again.

But as the smoldering embers started to die, a chill from the rain started to seep into the small space, and not even the body of the dog could hold it back from creeping over the young woman. The first sign was when she shivered, her arm tightening around the dog until Dogmeat shifted as though to shrug her off. Then she slid her arm from around the dog in favor of hugging herself, drawing her legs up as though she could make herself warmer by curling into a fetal position.

After a while, he might even hear her teeth starting to chatter.

[assjerky]

The Ghoul didn't pay much mind until Dogmeat wriggled from her side to trot over to him with a low whine. Then he picked up on the clacking of teeth and realized she was doing the same thing Janey would do when she'd kicked off her covers in her sleep. Hell's sake, the Vaultie needed some thicker skin and some warmer clothes.

With an irritated grunt, the Ghoul hauled himself back up to his feet and stripped off his duster, edged around the edge of the embers to drape the tattered but mostly intact coat over the Vaultie. Dogmeat trotted over with him and snuggled up behind her this time, resting her head on the Vaultie's hip, looking up at him with baleful brown puppy eyes. "Oh shut the fuck up," he mumbled at the dog, sitting back down and plucking at his vest. Felt weird without his coat. Like missing skin.

[okiedokies]

"Thank you," the soft murmur slipped out of her with very little awareness as she was briefly aware of something being placed over her. She didn't hesitate, even in her sleep, to curl her fingers around the edge so she could tuck it around herself, grateful for the heat that seemed to sink into her. Completely unaware that it was the lingering heat of his body coming from his jacket.

Her hand peeked out briefly so she could scratch the top of Dogmeat's head, giving her easy affection without actually opening her eyes. Then she was tucking the jacket around her, letting herself sink back to a deeper sleep.

But for as exhausted as she was, some part of her remained aware of the fact that she wasn't somewhere completely safe. Still, she got a few hours of sleep until an hour or so before dawn when she started to stir again, a sleepy yawn escaping her as she shifted onto her back and struggled to open her eyes with a couple of slow blinks. Then the remembering seemed to click as she stiffened, shifting to sit up quickly as she looked around sharply until her gaze landed on him. There was a flare of awareness followed by wariness and then acceptance until she realized his jacket was covering her.

"Did you...," she sounded confused as she looked at his coat and then back to him.

[assjerky]

By the time she woke up he'd decided it was close enough to sunup to start the fire back up, and he was roasting chunks of meat on skewers over the flames. He grunted in response, and immediately reached over to drag his coat off of her. "Your teeth was clacking loud enough to draw every radscorpion 'twixt here and Good springs," he drawled, swapping the skewer from hand to hand to shrug his coat back on. Felt fuckin' naked without it He waited until she was a bit more properly awake before he shoved the skewer at her. "Here. Best not to ask questions, just eat it." A pause, then a low chuckle. "And if what I think's goin' through your head is right, don't fret, it ain't something what ever had a name." He was only ever a cannibal out of necessity. Plenty of radroaches and mole rats about that it weren't, currently, necessary.

[okiedokies]

Her lashes fluttered as he snatched the coat away from her as though that would keep her from thinking anything or questioning him about why he had cared. But his response seemed logical enough, if a bit silly considering she was sure she wouldn’t have been loud enough to attract anything over the sound of the rain.

Maybe he was right though and she should leave it at that but she still offered a small smile until his hand thrusted out so he could hand her a skewer. She blinked, feeling a knee jerk response to say no but then her stomach clenched with a familiar hunger pain. Pressing her lips together, she considered him before shrugging her shoulders and taking the skewer. “Okie dokie.”

She pulled a piece of meat off and popped it into her mouth to start chewing as she looked at the door. “Any idea where we’re heading?”

[assjerky]

Truth be known the Ghoul wasn't sure what mole rat chunks truly tasted like, his own senses so dull that at best he could taste a hint of the char. Texture wise it was a bit stringy. But protein and fat was protein and fat, couldn't be picky much out here in the Wasteland.

Wherever Dogmeat tracked Young Henry to was where they were headed, but he imagined that wasn't what she was asking. "Had to wager a guess? Direction we're headed? Up what's left of the ol' highway deeper into the Mojave?" He fussed the collar of his coat into place and exhaled a sigh, finally feeling like himself, all pieces of his armor in place. "Reckon we're bound for New Vegas."

[okiedokies]

The meat was interesting and the taste was a bit odd but it wasn’t as bad as she expected it to be. It was good enough that she could chew it down and it could sustain her for a little while longer than whatever the Vault had packed for her when they had decided to banish her.

Her brows lifted when he mentioned Vegas because she knew a little about it from the history she taught but he had said New Vegas. So she looked intrigued as she tilted her head to the side, studying him. “What’s it like there?”

[assjerky]

Same shithole has everywhere else, the Ghoul was tempted to say, but that weren't entirely true. Probably true for her, coming from her perfect shiny vault world. Mostly true for him, remembering the way the world used to be. He hummed thoughtfully, shifted and bent a leg to prop an arm on his knee. "That fancy vault dweller education include geography? Heard of Las Vegas, Nevada?" He waited for her assent before he continued. "S'mostly intact. An' the same. Booze, whores, and roulette tables. Just as full of the same bullshit as the rest of the world, 'course. Factions. Tribes. Always fightin' for control and territory that don't mean shit, end of the day."

[okiedokies]

“I know about stuff from before the bombs were dropped but nothing after,” she confessed to him much as she had to Maximus. Then she smiled brightly at him. “So I have heard about Las Vegas.”

He had warned her before that nothing stayed clean up here, so she could imagine that this New Vegas was probably like everything else she had seen so far but she was still interested. Humming, she tilted her head to the side after swallowing another chunk of meat. “Why do you think my Dad would go there?”

[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?"