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pan-problemed · 1 year ago

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A body on the step and lies all about - i

cooper howard x angel!gn!reader

tags; slow burn, character study, cowboys, angels, religion, gender neutral reader warnings; none

masterlist | cross posted on ao3 inspired by the fallen by @geeks-universe! please check it out summary ; You are an angel, trying to help humanity build what their leaders destroyed. He is a man cursed to painful immortality, trying to survive in the world his leaders destroyed.

He thought he had squashed out all that remained of his humanity, but here you were, all gentle hands and knowing looks, throwing a wrench into the character he had so carefully constructed.

Some of the others questioned why you remained on Earth, even after Father’s creations had burnt it in fire and gamma. They had all given up hope that good may remain and therefore given up on all of them.

You knew not all of them were at fault - a single secretary could do nothing in the face of her government’s greed and hubris. She could not be blamed, could not be declared evil for someone else’s crime.

Still, grief was something you had become intricately familiar with. Looking at the ashen remains of all Father and humanity had created, you felt nothing but grief in its rawest, most volatile form.

But you remained. You held onto that hope, because what else were you without it?

Few of your siblings remained on Earth, equally dedicated to protecting and nudging humanity in the right direction. You remained in contact, despite millennia-long arguments on right and wrong.

If you asked yourself back in the 20th century whether you’d find yourself allies and almost friends with Lucifer himself, you wouldn’t have believed it.

But here you were. Constantly tasting the acidic flavour of radiation in the air, watching as humans tore each other apart again and again and tried to undo what they had done each time.

---

Purdue had grown into a careful little town in recent years. Before, they had called it West Lafayette, and before then it was Chauncey. But now it was Purdue, named after the title stamped into cracked signs and burnt textbooks.

They still used the old street signs - someone had taken time to repaint the little forest green rectangles and white letters.

Fondy was a bar built in the bottom floor of an apartment building, half of the letters had fallen off with age, the original name lost to time. Some of the apartments now were used as an inn, though not many travellers ended up in Purdue when Lucas Oil and Big State were only a day’s walk south.

And here you were, sitting at the counter as Buddy Holly’s voice buzzed from the little restored radio on the counter. Lukas Striker had recently set up in Big State, and you had provided a generous donation of songs to the bright-eyed boy. What a King was doing starting a radio show in the remnants of Indiana was beyond you, but you were happy to indulge.

You had always liked music, after all.

You were nursing your first drink of the night - whisky, caravanned out of Kentucky. The bitter taste was familiar on your tongue. Nothing compared to the expensive drinks Lucifer would encourage you to indulge in back in the day, alongside corny movies and drunken exchanges of stories.

He had been on a Western kick in 2076 and some of ‘77, particularly fond of one pretty little actor named Cooper Howard. His dark hair carefully slicked back reminded you of a gang you met back in the day, though it took quite a few more drinks to pull that story out of you.

You reckoned, if they ever made a movie about them, put some facial hair and cigarettes on Howard and he was practically the spitting image.

The ice clinked against the stained glass as you thought back to those late nights, drinking and laughing at the humans’ entertainment.

Before the resources grew too few, and the humans’ greed too powerful.

The ramshackle wood doors creaked open, announcing a new customer, but you didn’t look up from the spot you were studying on the counter. It had been built out of old signs and car parts, you could see a Toyota logo.

He sat three stools from you and ordered in a low voice, heavy with a southern accent. Speaking of Westerns, you thought to yourself.

You cast him a brief glance. He had rough skin, most of it covered with a ragged duster and clothes stained brown. His hat was angled to shield his eyes, despite being inside, and you could see the way his hazel eyes studied the room curiously.

You recognised his kind - mortals cursed to immortality. Skin ragged and burnt. Some had their brains melt away with the cartilage and hair, but others held onto their sanity despite.

His gaze met yours - intelligent, calculating, suspicious - and you held it for a moment, sizing each other up.

There was something familiar about him that tugged at your tongue, but you couldn’t puzzle it out just yet. You would keep an eye on him, then - he had a dangerous look about him.

The radio buzzed as the music rolled over to Billie Holiday. You didn’t look away, even as his drink was passed to him.

Finally, he downed the thing in one gulp and slammed the glass on the counter, leaning forward. “Reckon I’ve seen you before.” He mused.

“I thought the same.” You replied evenly, taking a careful sip from your drink.

The two of you fell silent again. You wondered what he was thinking, why he wasn’t ignoring you as you had planned to do to him.

He gestured for another drink, and the bartender hesitated for a moment. The man sighed and retrieved a few coppers, which seemed to appease the bartender for now.

“What brings you to Purdue?” You decided to ask, growing uncomfortable with the tense silence in the nearly empty bar.

He hummed, leaning back in his seat and draping one arm on the counter, tilting his head to look at you.

It clicked, then, who you were looking at. Speak of the devil (haha), the hollowed out ghost of Cooper Howard sat in that torn duster, staring you down with curiosity and bitterness in those chesnut eyes.

“Work.” He replied simply. “You?”

You shrugged. “I travel.”

He paused, tilting his head a little further, and you couldn’t help but compare him to a little labrador puppy studying something new for the first time.

The conversation largely ended there, though both of you did ocassionally hum along to the music playing from the radio. He was much more quiet than you, but the tapping of his fingers and the soft rumble of his voice didn’t escape your attention.

You gave him a friendly smile as you left, though he ignored it.

And you wondered.

#cooper howard #cooper howard x reader #the ghoul #the ghoul x reader #fallout #fallout tv #fallout tv series #fallout series #x reader #fallout x reader #gender neutral reader

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pan-problemed · 1 year ago

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What Fallout Games Should I Play?

Hello! My name is Skipper, and the Fallout games has been a special interest of mine for a few years now. With the resurgance of the fandom, and new people coming from the shows, I figured I'd make a post helping people figure out what games to play!

This is going to be the main 6 games (1-4, 76, NV), though I may add more if I play some of the other games. Feel free to add on, ask questions, or generally interact with this! I'm always happy to help people get into the games and love talking Fallout with people. :)

This is going to be as spoiler-free as possible, though I may mention some game locations vaguely, so be warned if you think that may ruin the experience.

For further reading, I highly reccomend the Independent Fallout Wiki! A lot less ads in your way, and the people over there are lovely. However, be careful, as there are spoilers there!

TLDR; New Vegas for story, Fallout 4 for gameplay and introducing concepts, Fallout 1 for authenticity, and Fallout 76 for multiplayer but absolutely nothing else of value.

Table of Contents

Fallout 1

Fallout 2

Fallout 3

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout 4

Fallout 76

Last Updated: April 22, 2024

Fallout 1

Released; 1997 Setting; Southern California, 2161 Wiki Page

Almost a hundred years after the bombs fell, Vault 13's water chip has broken, and the Vault Dweller was selected (through random chance) to venture out into the wasteland and save their vault.

Pros:

The Original Fallout Game!

One of my favourites, story-wise.

Harold!

The game is relatively short compared to the others, and the story isn't overly hard to digest, in my opinion.

The 'talking heads' animations are super cool (Aradesh, Harold, Etc Etc)

Later character who I won't name but once you meet them YOU'LL KNOW

There's no limit to how many companions you can have at a time

I generally love the setting.

Cons:

The graphics do not age well. Even for the time, they were a bit lacking. (For reference, Doom came out in 1993, 4 years earlier).

Bit of a learning curve! But once you get it, it's pretty easy to use. The turn-based combat was the hardest to get a handle on.

The game DOES NOT hold your hand. Later games have objective lists and markers, but this game just has a list and memory. Pretty fun, if you're into a more difficult game!

Combat and general survival is difficult. The experience is authentic - which means you can and will die during the first combat scenario. Again, once you get it it's not that bad, but combat will remain difficult. But for some this could be a pro!

Fallout 2

Released; 1998 Setting; Southern California, 2241 Wiki Page

80 years after the Vault Dweller's heroic rescue of their Vault, the village of Arroyo is suffering a severe drought. The Chosen One, a descendant of the Vault Dweller, has been sent to retrieve a G.E.C.K. to save their village.

Pros

The story again is very good!

A lot of the strengths of the previous game.

There's something melancholy about exploring the world of Fallout 1 with so many changes and losses. It's perfect for the setting.

Sergeant Dornan. You'll see when you meet him.

More Harold!

Cons

This was released only a year after Fallout 1, so a lot of the graphics & gameplay remain the same, if that's not something you're a fan of.

This is where the idea of "wacky vault experiments" is introduced, something I've never super loved, but that's subjective.

Fallout 3

Released; 2008 Setting; Capital Wasteland (Formerly Washington, D.C.), 2277 Wiki Page

200 years after the war, the 19-year-old Lone Wanderer's father has mysteriously left their home at Vault 101. It is up to the Lone Wanderer to track him down and figure out what's going on, all while navigating the dangerous Capital Wasteland.

Pros

Brought the Fallout series into the modern era!

Some pretty cool locations, like Megaton and Rivet City

Sort of a pro and con, a lot of the game is spent in the underground Metro system. This is cool, but I'm not a huge fan of interior spaces. Still - it feels like a real DC Wasteland!

Galaxy News Radio is introduced, which is great background noise - and I love Three Dog. He's so silly.

No sprint button. It's not felt super bad in this game compared to Vegas, but it still can be annoying.

It feels like a post-apocalypse. The whole world is this middy, almost sickly green, grey, and brown colour. All of the sets are carefully designed, full of dirt and debris and trash. Buildings are crumbling or outright hollowed out, the ghouls look like walking corpses (as they should be), the mole rats are nasty and all of the creatures feel gross. As they should be! This is a post-apocolypse, everything should be gross and dirty!

Lots of good world-building. Because this is based in the Capital, we get to interact with a lot of old-world history, and see how similar and different it is from our own.

Cons

Story is... not great, in my opinion.

Some of those DLCs physically hurt me. They definitely lean into the 'silly' aspects of the games, but I feel it hurts the worldbuilding and realism.

NOT Bethany Esda's best work.

Leans more into the 'game' and less on the 'role-playing', which was a big part of Fallout 1 and 2. The protagonist is 19, their father is James, and we see a bit of what their childhood looked like. You can work around it, but it's not as fun as the other games.

Sometimes the npcs are annoying. There's collision in this game, but sometimes if you step on something it'll move and a npc will shout 'Watch where you're going' or something, which gets on my nerves. Also, if you so much as look at a locked container, you get a 'That's locked for a reason'. Probably minor, but annoying.

Fire ants.

Fallout: New Vegas

Released; 2010 Setting; Mojave Wasteland (Formerly Mojave Desert), 2281 Wiki Page

Courier Six, or just the Courier, is in the middle of a delivery when they are interrupted by Benny and shot in the head - though they make a miraculous discovery and now need to figure out exactly what kind of mess they've landed themselves in this time.

Pros

I mean, it's Fallout New Vegas. This is a lot of people's favourite, for good reason. Story is phenomenal, the entire world feels real and interactive. If you shoot someone, there's consequences, and the other npcs will acknowledge it.

THE BEST radio. All of the music slaps and helps you feel the setting. Plus, I love Mr. New Vegas, the radio host.

The characters are amazing.

The world is not too silly but still silly. Like yeah, this makes sense for a post-apocalypse. But it's also so objectively funny. Some of the best memes come from this game.

Yes Man.

As usual, I love the map design.

Instead of greens for Fallout 3, this game is bathed in oranges and brown - making it feel warm, perfectly capturing the desert setting, and dusty.

3/4 of the DLCs are amazing!!

We love the companions in this house.

I love how morally grey it is. No one is perfect, no faction is outright good or outright bad (except the Legion, fuck those guys). It's up to you to pick which you think is the lesser evil, which is the best future for the Mojave. Or you can kill them all, up to you.

Cons

The development for this game was pretty famously rocky. It was outsourced to Obsidian, and they were given only 18 months to make it. Therefore, this game is very similar to Fallout 3, with some general improvements here and there.

There is still no sprint button, which is definitely felt here. A lot of the stuff is spread out, so thewre's a lot of wandering through desert, slowly making your way to your destination. It also feels more empty. The great city of New Vegas is sparsely populated, quiet, and desolate - despite it being such a big deal and supposedly so popular.

Honest Hearts DLC :////

Fallout 4

Released; 2015 Setting; The Commonwealth (Formerly Boston, MA), 2287 Wiki Page

In 2077, the Sole Survivor (default names Nate or Nora) is ready to start a family. In their little neighbourhood, with their white picket fence and infant son, it is a time of new beginnings - despite the war raging around them. Unfortunately, the war quickly catches up to them, and their family is forced to take shelter in Vault 111, where they are frozen in time for 210 years. They emerge following the kidnapping of their infant son, into a time so different to their own, battling this new world alongside the ghosts of the old.

Pros

The graphics have been updated, and it looks great! Mostly. Instead of washed-out greens and browns, this game is bright and vibrant.

Some more awesome companions. Honestly, I love them so much.

I really like the level-up system in this. I prefer 3/NV, but the tier system is fun and visually neat.

Better crafting system. And more crafting systems in general.

Settlements!!! This game introduces settlements, which basically means there's a bunch of set locations around the map that you can take over and build in! You get a lot of freedom and are responsible for meeting the needs for people in the settlement. You can get some mods for more freedom/flexibility, and you can mostly ignore it if you want.

Cons

The story is... also lacking. It feels almost... unfinished? Some beats are strange and it's just like. What.

Playing this before Fallout 3 pissed me off so much, because there's so much that is ripped off of Fallout 3. The Commonwealth is brought up, the radio music is the same, the vault numbers so similar, there's even an early version of Vault 111. It feels lazy. Fallout New Vegas was more creative, and they had a fraction of the time 4 has.

40-50% of the game is spent in loading screens.

Preston Garvey deserves so much better.

Nick Valentine is non-romancable.

It's so easy to forget about the main objective, and hard to really care about it. This is a common problem I've heard, so it's not just me.

Radio host gets on my nerves :/

Nuka-World DLC is frustrating. But at least it's not racist. Sideyes Honest Hearts (Fo:NV).

Game is... easy. Too Easy. Deathclaws are supposed to be dangerous and difficult to kill.

Fallout 76

Released; 2018 Setting; Appalachia (Midwestern US mountain range), 2102-2104 Wiki Page

25 years after the bombs fell, all members of Vault 76 have been kicked out in order to rebuild society.

Pros

It's. Multiplayer? Kinda.

I made some friends on there, which was neat.

Return of item condition. So.

CAMPs are fun. Like the settlement but without NPCs to look after and allows location flexibility.

Has. Some new songs on the radio?

ALMOST HEAVEN. WEST VE-

Amazing map design! The outside is gorgeous and feels like Appalachia, for the most part.

Honestly, I prefer this version of VATS (the game's targeting system). In other games, VATS will pause and slow down combat to help with aim, and can be kind of annoying. Here, the combat speed is the same, you just spend some AP (stamina) for aim assist.

Cons

I prefer settlements tbh

What's not to mention? Story sucks, game sucks, etc etc. It's pretty famously bad.

I usually love the story, but checked out very fast and spent most of my time running around. But I honestly didn't last long even then.

The game is broken. Like, fundamentally broken. You are constantly subjected to crashes, bugs, etc etc. Fallout 4 is buggy, but this takes it to an extreme.

50-70% of the game is loading screens.

The interiors are huge, and there is no local map, so you very easily get lost.

Generally the story is so stupid.

Fallout 1st is a cash grab.

Unbalanced.

Bad.

Some videos I like about Fallout 76

Internet Historian's video on the history and release. I'm iffy on Internet Historian as a creator, but I do like the video. Let's just hope it's not plagiarised.

Joseph Anderson's video on the game at it's released state. Primarily focuses on how poorly the game plays and how broken it is. Super funny.

PrivateSession's video released in 2023, reviewing a more current version of the game. More focused on story.

PatricianTV's 4-part series released in 2023, reviewing a more current version of the game. More focused on the game and gameplay.

In conclusion; thank you for reading! As I mentioned, any criticism, questions, and suggestions are welcome! I hate/love fallout and am always happy to drag people down with me.

Also, would people be interested in a post discussing the story/setting/timeline? Like where I infodump further about the universe. To make it easier to digest and answer questions. Or give me a chance to infodump further about fallout.

#fallout

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