#I NEED CHRISTINE ROYCE

[vnknowcrow]

I think dead money would be better if we were able to get into a lesbian relationship with Veronica's mute bald lobotomized equally traumatized ex girlfriend

[fallout-lou-begas]

might be getting this apartment sooner than expected girlies which means the sooner i can work on @ikroah and get to the dead money arc in my lifetime

[amarithecat]

ROUND 2. FIGHT!

[justdiptych]

Trans issues are rarely brought up in the Fallout series. Fallout 2′s cut Environmental Protection Agency location was apparently slated to include 'Top Secret Research into Gender Modification', but there's little suggestion what that content would have actually included. Also, the pre-war USA was a fascist hellscape that was actively hostile to human rights - witness, for example, a federal information release about the New Plague, which conflates contagion, socialism and queer sexuality, and encourages readers to report anyone displaying any of the above for 'quarantine' - so pre-war trans communities likely drew as little attention to themselves as possible. More recently, two non-binary characters (Burke and Orlando) have been introduced in Fallout 76's expansions; their roles have been relatively minor.

All that said… the Auto-Doc technology we see in Fallout 2 and New Vegas would be an absolute boon for trans patients. Auto-Docs can synthesise and administer medications, including hormone treatments (the models in the Sierra Madre Villa Clinic can dispense adrenaline, for instance). Any medications not already available can be added to the Auto-Doc's database by a knowledgeable user - this is how the cure to Jet addiction is manufactured in Vault City.

Auto-Docs are also capable of all manner of surgeries. Cosmetic surgery is not unheard of in the Fallout universe - Rivet City’s Horace Pinkerton and Diamond City’s doctors Crocker and Sun all offer it - but Auto-Docs can go even further. Advanced models can even alter a patient’s entire skeleton, with minimal scarring: Fallout 2′s Chosen One can can have their skeleton reinforced, without any Charisma penalty (unless they opt for the heavier, more invasive upgrade), and New Vegas’ Courier can have their spine and central nervous system replaced with a synthetic alternative. Auto-Docs can even give a patient a new voice - Christine Royce tragically had this done to her without her consent, but this does demonstrate show the procedure’s viability for a willing user.

Whether or not the major medical companies of the Falloutverse would sign off on such uses of their tech, breaking and customising Auto-Doc programming seems to have been a simple matter. A suitably sympathetic or motivated physician could have easily started a trans health clinic that could address the bulk of their patients’ medical needs - hormone treatment, surgery far more advanced than exists in the real world, and even voice alteration.

In short, there is absolute, copper-bottomed, canon-compliant room in the wasteland for fully automated transing of genders, and I hope the devs will recognise and embrace this fact.

[felassanis]

I replayed Honest Hearts recently and I had just body slammed Caesar right before going to Zion. And I got to thinking...what are Graham's thoughts on women?

He helped start the Legion so realistically doesn't this mean he either agreed with the complete oppression of women under the Legion or didn't do anything about it?

Because if he doesn't say ANYTHING about women. It still doesn't look good. this does exist in a complete contradiction to characters like Ulysses. Who from what we know does not hold similar prejudice despite being in the Legion.

I say this because not only does he save Christine Royce from that cell in Big MT, not only does he heal her. But he does so because he values her opinion and perspective into the Brotherhood of Steel. A woman, having AN OPINION!? IN Caesar's economy!? Baffling.

Except it isn't. Because Ulysses also tells the Courier of the Twin Mother's tribe. A matriarchal tribe. For the reason that it would help the courier to learn Bitter Drink but also because he wants the history of that tribe to live on. Again, seeing VALUE in women.

I think he even pokes fun at Caesar's Legion when upon meeting a female Legion aligned courier he says "last I checked you needed a weapon between your legs to carry one for caesar"

Graham? Does he ever say anything about this topic? Not to hate on Graham but um. Classic Ulysses W.

[toxicentity405]

Since Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is releasing soon, I had a dumb idea: what types of Pokémon would Fallout New Vegas characters use?

- - -

The Courier: My courier specifically would use dragon types. This type matches her feral-ness, and she would prefer/need strong Pokémon.

Cassidy: Would totally use fire types. After she drinks and her temper surfaces, I think she would want to burn the entire Mojave lmao.

Arcade: Grass types. Grass is considered one of the weaker types, and I think that suits him because I don’t think he would be the competitive type. Plus grass types have access to a lot of healing moves.

Boone: Flying types because he often waits in high-up places whenever he’s on the job. I imagine he has something of a bird’s eye view whenever he snipes.

Vulpes: Would definitely use dark types. Not much explanation needed. He often plays tricks on people, and he’s an expert at manipulation.

Caesar: Psychic types. Psychic is pretty much considered the “intellectual” type in Pokémon, and that matches Caesar’s description in game.

Lanius: Fighting types. This dude pretty much wants to fight everything that breaths, so this type suits him.

Mr. House: Electric types. He’s surrounded by dozens of securitrons, and he lives with a shit ton of technology.

Ulysses: Ground types. If Pokémon existed in fnv, then I imagine there would be a ton of ground types in the Divide.

Christine Royce: Steel types. This type just suits her a lot, and it goes well with the Circle of Steel concept.

Veronica: Rock types. I can’t really come up with a good explanation for this one, she just gives rock type vibes lol.

Joshua Graham: Ghost types. Many people think he’s dead, and realistically, he should be after the whole debacle with the Legion. But, he survived, and now he lives with his scars.

Raul: Bug type. Bug is also one of the weaker types, and I think that sort of suits Raul. He can get knocked down by a lot of things, yet he keeps on kicking.

The King: Ice types. This man is the king of cool, and he’s pretty chill, so this is apt lol.

Lily: Poison types. Lily used to be a stealthy assassin, so I could see her poisoning people if it were an option.

General Lee Oliver: Normal types. This guy is just… the most normal type guy ever. Sorry not sorry, he’s so boring lmao.

Julie Farkas: Fairy types. Julie is one of my favorite side characters, and she’s really nice in game. So yeah, she would be a fairy type user. Also, (I think?) fairy types have access to healing moves as well.

Benny: Water types. Much like water, Benny can seem nice at first, until it pulls you under, or the creatures living under the surface attack you. Plus, my courier hates large bodies of water, so it’s even more fitting lmao.

I think I got through all of the types. I’m not sure why I felt compelled to write this, but enjoy my brain rot lmao.

[awakngiiileaves]

serenity

[cheatdeathsarchive]

i’ve woken up with a stomach bug so i probably will just be lurking and shit posting today sorry everyone :c

[chaosintheavenue]

Fallout Opinion Survey- Results!

Thank you so much to all those who took part! We had 421 usable responses in total :D

One quick note- the nature of the data this time around means that most of the auto-generated charts are usable as they are, which does mean this post will be very image-heavy. I’d be very appreciative if someone who knows how to write image descriptions for charts could add them on!

Without further ado, let’s get into the results...

The Basics:

Favourite DLC:

Dead Money- 115 (...nice) Old World Blues- 94 Far Harbor- 76 Lonesome Road- 53 Nuka World- 27 Point Lookout- 17 Honest Hearts- 11 The Pitt- 9 Mothership Zeta- 7 Automatron- 3 Operation Anchorage- 3 Broken Steel- 2 Vault-Tec Workshop- 1

Favourite faction:

Followers of the Apocalypse- 146 Railroad- 62 Minutemen- 45 NCR- 23 Kings- 22 Brotherhood of Steel (all chapters combined)- 20 Yes Man/Wildcard Courier- 18 Great Khans- 14 Enclave- 10 Caesar's Legion- 8 Raiders (76, Nuka World and general combined)- 8 Institute- 6 Chairmen- 5 Unity- 4 Atom Cats- 3 Mr House- 3 Boomers- 3 Freeside- 2 Responders- 2 Children of Atom- 2 Ghoul settlements in general- 2 Hubologists- 2 Tunnel Snakes- 2 And the list of those with one vote each: The Family, Think Tank, Reaver Movement, Ciphers, Broken Hills, Powder Gangers, Reilly's Rangers, Acadia, Goodneighbor, Underworld, White Glove Society, Omertas, Jacobstown, post-Legion Ulysses, Cult of the Mothman, 80s, and talking Deathclaws from Fallout 2

Favourite companion:

Arcade Gannon- 75 Nick Valentine- 53 Hancock- 39 Veronica- 38 Deacon- 30 ED-E- 26 Raul- 23 Boone- 22 MacCready- 13 Christine Royce- 12 Dogmeat (all)- 11 Fawkes- 10 Preston Garvey- 10 Charon- 9 Rex- 9 Butch Deloria- 8 Goris- 8 Cait- 7 Danse- 7 Piper- 7 Lily- 6 Marcus- 6 Rose of Sharon Cassidy- 6 Curie- 5 Porter Gage- 4 Dean Domino- 4 X6-88- 3 Strong- 3 Ulysses- 3 RL-3- 3 Ian- 2 Dog/God- 2 Codsworth- 2 Joshua Graham- 2 Old Longfellow- 2 Lenny- 2 Ada- 2 And the 'list of ones': Tycho, Katja, Follows-Chalk, Sydney

-

The Lore:

(other titles specifically mentioned in the final question: Metro and Doom)

Characters headcanoned as synths: The Sole Survivor (by far the most common theory), Sturges, Deacon, Preston Garvey, the Lone Wanderer in Broken Steel, James/Dad, Dogmeat, Three Dog, Parker Quinn, Charon, Courier Six, Tinker Tom, Zeke, Arthur Maxson, Father/older Shaun, Piper, Travis Miles, Mysterious Stranger, Caesar ('cause funny'), Joshua Graham, most Children of Atom, Desdemona, Myrna, Marcy Long, Mr Burke, Vault 76 Overseer, Trashcan Carla, Cricket, many BoS and Enclave members, Reaver Movement members, Redeye, Moira Brown, Dr Zimmer, Ranger Ghost, most birds, Arcade Gannon, Elijah, Lizzie Wyatt, Kellogg, Mama Murphy, Nat Wright, and Sierra Petrovita

(please note I'm not all that familiar with Fallout 4 lore, if any of the FO4 peeps here are canon synths then I didn't know about it lol)

Fan theories/headcanons from the final question that cropped up repeatedly (in approximate order of popularity):

Vault-Tec started the Great War

Alien involvement with the pre-war US government and/or the Great War

Horses are still around

Talking Deathclaws are still around

Occult/eldritch influence (e.g. the Dunwich building) is widespread

Charon is a survivor of Vault 92

Deacon is a founder of the Railroad and his 'real' backstory was another lie

Veronica and Christine reunite

Sarah Lyons is alive

Gen 3 synths and ghouls still need to eat, drink, sleep and so on

Ghouls only turn feral in specific circumstances (suggestions include prolonged isolation and relying too heavily on radiation instead of food as a source of energy) and it is not inevitable

International travel and immigration continues

Danse and Harkness were sent to the Capital Wasteland by the Railroad together

X person is actually multiple people- suggested for Deacon, Legate Lanius and Vulpes Inculta

The US is the either the only place that was nuked or the only place that hasn't rebuilt and recovered, and the rest of the world is just ignoring them and carrying on as normal

Cass is the Chosen One's daughter

Mama Murphy is the Chosen One

No-Bark Noonan is the Chosen One (lots of Chosen One theories popping up lol)

All subsequent Dogmeats in the series are named after the legend of the original Dogmeat

Father is not really Shaun

MacCready is lying about Duncan being ill (or one person even suggested Duncan existing)

Yes Man overthrows the Courier after being upgraded

The real Lone Wanderer died at the end of the vanilla game even if Broken Steel is installed, and the Broken Steel LW is a synth

Deacon once worked for the Institute

Deacon deliberately leads people to theorise that he is the Lone Wanderer to throw them off

Deacon is or was once a ghoul (also plenty of Deacon theories)

The Mysterious Stranger is a time traveller who protects the various PCs to maintain the timeline

Appalachia was turned into a barren wasteland by the nuclear trigger-happiness of the Vault 76 Dwellers (possibly interesting aside: my brother, who buys into this one, has gone as far as to theorise that the original Great War used very low-yield weapons and wasn't that severe on the environmental level (as far as literal nuclear war goes, that is), and it was the Vault 76ers nuking the hell out of Appalachia that triggered a continent-wide nuclear winter and sent the ecology of the wasteland into the state it's in in all subsequent games)

Glory is not a synth

The (in-game) reason for lore clashes and retcons is that the plot of each game is a retelling  of the story as it's passed around in the wasteland, so some details have been embellished or mixed up

I’ll be coming back to the theories from the final question at some point, but aside from that, that's a wrap! There isn't really much potential for me to play around with the data here like with the OC surveys, so this was more just me presenting the data as it came in without commentary. Still, I hope this is somehow interesting/insightful!

[asphodelles]

The good ending

[fallout-lou-begas]

unfortunately the gender affirming thing that i need more than anything is a full scar across my throat like christine royce in fallout new vegas. i came close when i got a trach shave but that was a laproscopic surgery and so the scar was very small and healed quickly. when i asked the surgeon if he could leave me a big one on purpose he looked me in the eyes and said "that would be malpractice." and i can't exactly get my neck slit recreationally but i gotta admit that if i happened to be attacked by an absolute maniac in the street who cut my throat with a knife and i was bleeding out profusely, my last thought before i faded to black would possibly be "well if i happen to survive this then i'm gonna look sooooo cunt"

[nightingaelic]

Companions (DLC included) respond to the Courier getting drunk at their wedding.

Arcade Gannon: "What is wrong with you? You couldn't pick any other day to act like a brahmin who got into the broc patch?"

Super apologetic toward his new husband, he should've known the courier was going to make a scene, honestly, it's about the only thing they're good at, and gets so flustered he starts blushing and his newly-minted spouse has to reassure him that the courier isn't even the most inebriated person there. That award goes to Cass, who is pickling herself in a mixture of wedding joy and despair that the nerdy gay scientist of the friend group found love before she did. Arcade stops the courier from being a bad influence and forbids the bartender from pouring the pair of them any more shots. Will not hold the courier's hair if they throw up, but will slip them some Rebound for the inevitable hangover.

Craig Boone: "Take it easy. Here, I'll finish that one for you."

Ignores the courier's antics completely until they make their way up to congratulate him and his new partner personally, at which point his usual stony façade will crack a bit. He's well-acquainted with the courier's drunk personality by now, but hasn't let himself loosen up out of a strong sense of duty. Now, on this happy day, he's willing to relax an inch and share some extra drinks with them and the rest of the Lucky 38 crew. This is the one time the courier will be able to steal his beret and be able to hang onto it until after the festivities.

Lily Bowen: "Go sit in the corner until you can behave yourself, dearie!"

Embarrassed by her surrogate grandchild's actions, Lily would attempt to scold the courier back into sobriety. Eventually she would realize her efforts are fruitless and take a few minutes to sulk, before the whirlwind happiness of the day and the flounce of her dress win out and she lets her spouse, the courier and her Lucky 38 and Jacobstown friends lead her out to the middle of the dance floor. After that, well, there aren't many spectacles that can top seeing a bunch of super mutants dancing.

Raul Alfonso Tejada: "Hey, hey, slow down boss! Tenemos muchos años más to act like fools together, eh?"

As soon as the courier jumps up on a table to give an impromptu toast, Raul will unleash his best grito and toast them back with the nearest bottle of tequila. Once deep enough into the alcohol himself, Raul would get a little weepy and start thanking them profusely for their role in his recent years of life, leaning on them as much as they're leaning on him. Largely forgiving of messes caused by clumsiness or turned stomachs, unless any of them threaten to ruin his suit or his partner's outfit.

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: "Well if this ain't an excuse to get wasted in the wastes, I don't know what is."

Cass lives up to her nickname "Whiskey Rose" and is probably just as deep into her cups as the courier. Through the laughter, stumbles, bumps and curse words, however, Cass is careful not to go past her point of no return, and cuts the courier off before they also slip over the edge. She's spent much of her later life trying to get blackout drunk, but today is not a day she wants either of them to forget. As such, she has a low tolerance for anyone who messes up something important in her eyes, and will toss them out on their ass. God help anyone who rips her dress.

Veronica Santangelo: "That's the first time I've seen anyone mix Jake Juice and ant nectar together. This should be interesting."

Rather than confront a drunken courier about their bad behavior, Veronica settles for blushing deeper and deeper shades of pink, until her new wife tells her to go outside and get some air. Like Cass, she is very protective of her dress, but mostly because she loves wearing it in general and wants to feel like a princess for as long as she can. Will definitely get lost in the bathroom with Cass and the courier at some point, complimenting everyone who walks in. Will hold the courier's hair back if they throw up.

BONUS!

Dean Domino: "Don't leave me out if you have plans for some grand finale. Marriage might've caught me, but this snake can still rattle."

As long as the courier doesn't start singing, Dean regards their drunken stunts with a charming smile and a wink or two. If the courier tries to start some impromptu karaoke, however, Dean will start heckling them and get the rest of the guests to join in. This is less about being offended by their singing and more about putting himself back in the center of the spotlight. If the song is a duet, though, he'll probably join in on the second part with some pre-war choreography.

Christine Royce: [scowls]

The Brotherhood assassin is quite good at piercing glares, which is exactly what the courier will get if they don't put the centerpiece down and melt back into the crowd around the bar. Christine is also unafraid of a confrontation, and if the courier's behavior doesn't improve after their first warning, they'll be kicked to the outskirts of the reception, or kicked out altogether. Veronica will take pity on them if this happens and sneak them some food, but Christine doesn't let her guard down easily anymore and removal from the party is permanent.

Dog/God: "Hrrrrrrn..."

Watching the courier overindulge is too much for the nightkin, who is painfully reminded of his own split personality. Still too polite to ask the courier to tone it down or leave though, he instead disappears until the courier leaves or until someone else deals with them.

Follows-Chalk: "Let's share a cup or two, then get back to things, neh?"

Though he's personally fine with the courier's lack of decorum, Follows-Chalk meets the disapproving glances from the rest of the Dead Horses with sheepish grins and hustles them to the back of the celebration if they get too loud. He'll share a few drinks with them though, and the alcohol will warm him up significantly toward letting them back into the center of things. Ultimately, he and the courier will wind up swaying together over a bonfire, singing songs off-key and reminiscing about their time together in Zion.

Waking Cloud: "Muddy your water if you must, but do not forget to let it run clean beneath the morning."

The tall, stately bride is polite and tolerant of the courier's drunken outbursts, but chooses not to partake herself when offered drinks. The Sorrows view mind-altering substances as something for serious, sacred purposes, and weddings are focused on celebration rather than ritual. Still, Waking Cloud can't help but smile when the courier tries their hand at the intricate, unending dances on the banks of the Virgin River. They might look foolish, and watching members of the tribe might wince, but the smile on their face is pure ecstasy.

Joshua Graham: "There is a fire that burns within the righteous, but that fire cannot prosper if you insist on quenching it."

As a Mormon, Joshua Graham doesn't drink, and he's very judgmental of those who overindulge. Seeing as it's the courier, his disdain is tempered into something more akin to disappointment, but he'll still take every opportunity to pull them aside and try to explain their faux pas in between their hiccups. Most likely to have a dry wedding in the first place, but we all know the courier has a trusty Vault 13 canteen and is great at breaking the rules.

Ulysses: "The Twin Mothers knew how to cure a wound with bitters, one drink at a time... some wounds need more. More bitters, and more drinks. There's enough bitterness already in our history."

Ulysses also doesn't drink, but he knows better than to try to separate the courier from a good time. He'll simply avoid them until they simmer down, grabbing his partner and ducking out of conversations right before the courier crashes them. He's so successful in this that the courier might start loudly complaining about how they "didn't know we were back in the Divide," and enlist ED-E to bob around the party in pursuit.

[sleepysailorghost]

Boone had done a lot of waiting recently.

Waiting was something he was supposed to be good at, but the act rubbed him the wrong way a little. Perhaps it has very little to do with the act, but who he was waiting for.

That's a dangerous thought, he tells himself, and cuts it short. He does that more often than he'd like to admit.

He knows what he's waiting for-who he's waiting for.

It doesn't make the waiting any less tedious. Novac is a place he's grown to hate.

Still, the Courier has told him he couldn't go with them. It's better than them being kidnapped...he doesn't think he can stand walking up to find them stolen away.

It wouldn't be a long trip, they promised. Just getting there, maybe a day there, and then however long it would take to get back. He didn't really know how long they thought would take, and they hadn't made this trip before. He just kept telling himself that they'd be home soon and that everything would seem better when they were.

A few days into the Courier's trip to the Sierra Madre, Ulysses shows up. He slinks into the sniper's nest with grace.

"Where is the Courier?" Ulysses, despite the fact he had given Antietam their name, did not use it. He practically growled the words, but Boone understood that. After all, he would do the same if there had been anyone to question when they had disappeared.

Another thread he's not pulling at.

"Not here." He didn't have to like the man.

"Where."

"Sierra Madre." Boone answered. "Be home soon."

A thought appeared unbidden-that Ulysses couldn't have known Antietam wasn't in their room unless he checked. He clearly hadn't seen them leave-he would have followed.

He's got no proof, of course. But it won't hurt to check the lock on their room. He'll schedule it between drinking himself to sleep and missing Tie.

"Unlike the Courier to seek treasure." Someone didn't know about the footlocker of gold bars at the foot of their bed. "No...must be some other reason."

"They've been there before. Left a friend and they think they need to bring them back. Christine, I think." His voice got softer at the end, but he didn't intend to. He was soft for the courier. "Grab a rifle if you want. You can help keep watch."

Ulysses made sort of noise that was smothered by his mask, but it was probably a noise of annoyance. He did take Boone's spare rifle and take up a spot next to him.

"Christine Royce." He settles the rifle against his shoulder. "Coincidence? No...Couldn't be."

"If you say so." Then he felt a need to show off, even if Tie wasn't around. "You gonna stick around or just show up when they come back?"

"Haven't decided." Ulysses had decided, but he had no need to share this information with the NCR sniper.

"Tie'll be heading your way soon enough."

Ulysses pondered that for a second, looking out into the Mojave.

"Cares about me."

"Yeah."

That much was true. Boone couldn't and did not want to ascertain the nature of the feelings they held for Ulysses, but he knew that the Courier cared.

He ignored his own feelings for the Courier in a similar way. He avoided thinking about it, even when he was jealous.

It was just easier that way. He'd never know the burn of the Courier's rejection if he had no feelings for them. That, and he could pretend he doesn't know that it would absolutely destroy him to lose them.

There is silence between them. Boone isn't one to carry a conversation and it seems neither is Ulysses. They stand watch for the town and wait.

He hates Novac, he thinks.

"You a legion man?" Boone asks, although he knows any loyal legionaire would have killed both the Courier and himself at the first chance they had.

"Walked under the bull's flag for a long time. Was one of the frumentari once, but I serve no one any longer. Serve no flag but the one on my back now."

"Huh." If Boone knew this man better, he might have slapped him on the arm and told him to quit all the fancy talking. He's not stupid or anything, just direct. "Didn't figure you were still loyal to them. Probably wouldn't spend all your time following around Tie if you were."

"The Courier has certainly made themself an enemy of the Bull." Ulysses remarked, smirking beneath his mask. "Saw the destruction they brought to the fort."

Boone smiles to himself as he thinks of that- an NCR sniper and a no-name Courier wiping out a Legion stronghold.

"What did you want from the Courier anyway?" Boone asked.

"Revenge, to see what flag they walked under, for them to see the ashes of the Hopesville."

This, of course, means very little to Craig Boone. Revenge, however, is something he's familiar with.

A man's reason for revenge is his own, he thinks sharply. A rose of hurt blooms in his chest when he thinks of his child and Carla.

It always hurts and it's never going to stop, he thinks. He knows he's just waiting to die.

He lets the conversation fall, busy brooding in his own head, hating the world for letting him fall in love with Carla and hating himself and hating the Courier for making him want to live again.

"And you, sniper? What drives you to follow the Courier?" Ulysses adds after some time.

Boone thinks about it for a second.

"Killing legionaries mostly."

"No. Maybe once, but," And he smiled here, although Boone did not see it. "Something else now."

Boone got the feeling that Ulysses imagined them both to feel that way. In some ways, he didn't disagree.

He changes the topic, asking instead if he had known the courier before Benny had gifted them two lead slugs. Ulysses blinks at this.

"No...Saw them once, carrying disaster in their arms. When their road lead back to mine, they were not what I had expected."

"What did you expect?"

"A man in a cowboy hat with red eyes."

"Tie's got brown eyes." Boone pointed out. "Not your courier."

"No..It was them. They walked the Divide, built the town up, and destroyed it so carelessly."

"Tie wouldn't." Boone argued, even as he remembered their attack at the fort.

"No, they weren't Antietam. Not yet. They were a hometown hero, a courier of the Divide. I didn't know them then, and I hated them for destroying it." The conversation fell between the two men, and it felt like hours before Ulysses spoke again. "And you? How did your road cross with the Courier's?"

Boone's lips curl into a frown reflexively.

"They came up here. Looking for the daytime guard. Someone in town sold my wife into Legion slavery. They helped me find out who. Then we stuck a bullet in her. Snipers work in pairs and all, so it just made sense for us to stick together." He summed up, not looking for pity or wanting to talk about it. He didn't want for it to feel better-he wanted to be buried under the sand. Then he thinks of the Courier and how they would be if he died and he stops that line of thinking. Something to live for.

"Courier brings cataclysm wherever their road leads." Ulysses said.

"Justice." Boone grits out. "It was one for Carla and the baby."

Like so many times this evening, the conversation is dropped. It seems it's a night for it.

"Tie said you were the strongest man they ever met." Boone says later, more of a grunt than anything. "That true?"

"Could be." The sun's about to come up. Manny will be here to take his shift any minute. The sniper blinks tiredly, not of physical exhaustion, but a deeper weariness.

They don't have a way of testing who's physically stronger (not one more specific than Who Can Pick Up More Stuff) and Boone's strength isn't in his physical ability.

So the sniper says goodbye to the courier, and the courier disappears into the night. He says hello to Manny at shift change-things are getting better.

And then he heads into he and Antietam's hotel room and the dogs run into the courtyard and back into the room when he whistles for them. He lays down in their bed and waits for his Courier to come home.

He's done a lot of waiting recently.

[tacticalhimbo]

[ DO NOT STEAL/REPOST. REBLOGS APPRECIATED ]

Not sure if I need to put this under a read more or like... crop it, but I drew Christine Royce from Fallout New Vegas!

She deserves so much more and I just love her. Blurred a screenshot of an auto-doc for the background because I'm lazy, but used some overlays to blend it together.

[thenukacolachallenge]

i do really need to figure out how to work the dead money dlc into the modern!au(/mk!au) for Cash because it’s such a defining characterization moment for her

it’s her childhood dream to find the treasure of the sierra madre, and it ends up being both the best and worst experience of her life. worst because of all the hardship it takes to survive there, but also the best because it’s where she meets Christine Royce who is the legitimate love of her life, and where she learns what it really means to let go of her past as Fritz the raider and begin again as Cash Black the savior of the Mojave.

also the gold. so much gold. Cash absolutely sneaks out with all the gold bars and becomes rich as shit.

so i have the fun task of trying to fit a post-apocalyptic casino heist with bomb collars, explosive radios, and a toxic red cloud into a modern au. why do i do this to myself.

[spakonarchive]

@the-last-command​ asked: For Christine Royce - ❛ I got no quarrel with you. ❜

Christine doesn’t lower her gun. The Sierra Madre is hell on Earth, and she’s its keeper. It’s where she stays to keep people out. She aims at his feet, ready to shoot another warning shot from where she is twenty meters away. Her voice is better now, though there’s no real need or use for it. Not when she’s alone here in the desert with nothing but ghosts for company.

She speaks though, and her voice is crackly and low from disuse. She speaks loudly so he doesn’t misunderstand: “Then go. There’s nothing for you here.”