So, this is gonna be a series of one shots, all connected, but not all in order.
I don't own Fallout; if I did, I'd make romancing your companions possible, and Veronica would be way cuter.
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"What would be, and what will always be, are two different things. Love will always be the force that brings two longing souls together, while friendship is what would be a driving force to survive...or a twisting dagger forcing death."
-By: Me-
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The misted sun threw a hurdle of light in the eyes of the hooded woman as she exited the Lucky 38 casino to get some fresh air from all the robots that surrounded the area; robotics were her specialty, along with anything mechanical, but to have them droning around day in day out? A real ball ache if you asked her, though with her tendency to speak too much and the fact that she loved the machines she currently loathed, you'd ignore her out of embarrassment for being around her. She was pacing around outside for some time, taking in the atmosphere of the strip before heading back in , Victor the robot letting her in as she turned around for one last look at Vegas and all of its corruption and greed, and what it would be like if it were independent. Free.
She knew such a day would not come, as the Legion was practically on Vegas' doorstep, and the NCR would turn everywhere into a long forgotten time that no one wants; not even the NCR soldiers doing all the work while the politicians control everything want to do what they were right now. The Brotherhood of Steel's ambitions were big, but pointless as no one is scared of them anymore, power armour and fancy laser weapons holding little weight over the advanced wasteland of today. At this, Veronica sighed as she turned to enter the elevator and rolled up the shaft that led to the suite that the courier had kept for her in case she ever needed to use it while she was gone.
Why the Courier had given it to her, Boone, ED-E and Cass, she will never know, and neither will anyone else, only the Courier. Speaking of which, it might be a good time to add that the Courier has been gone for almost a week after going to clear out a vault full of fiends: drugged up psychopaths hell bent on getting their next fix of Jet or Psycho, whilst simultaneously killing everything their drugged up minds perceived as a threat. She- as did the other companions that she had gathered- worried for the Courier, even Cass seemed generally distraught for her as she had been missing, though Cass was the first of her many friends to join her on her adventures. She took no one with her to that vault and for all they knew she could be dead. ED-E simply whirred around in the air as he normally did, not even paying attention to the Courier's disappearance.
She had tried to distract herself by asking Cass a question she will never soon forget asking. "Can I talk to you?" She quizzed the cowgirl. She had never asked her for anything as her trusty power fist solved most of the problems in the Mojave; well, all except this one. Though, she reminisced slightly, there was one issue she couldn't solve by punching it...the Courier being some sort of freaky master with a sword, Veronica and she sparred one day; Veronica left with a couple of broken knuckles and a swollen right foot.
She reluctantly nodded, following Veronica out of the room and into hers so they could talk away from earshot. Boone didn't even notice them leave and sat on the couch sipping a beer for a lengthy amount of time, savouring the flavour before the thoughts of the Courier's disappearance surfaced in his mind again.
While Craig Boone would not say he and the Courier were best friends, they were close, him being the second companion she had hired to travel with her. Sipping on his pre-war distilled beer, Boone began a trip down memory lane, an unpleasant one showing him the faults he had, the things he had done; he vaguely saw through the haze of beer, a picture of a soft smile and lips wording 'it doesn't matter' and a different voice saying 'It will be okay'. Then he saw the Courier's face, soft and pale with no blemishes, and wondered what she had said to him after he finally caved one day and regaled her with the tale of how he had to shoot his pregnant wife.
Oh, that's right, she didn't say anything, simply smiling sadly and patting his back when he finally broke and cried- for the first time in fifteen years he cried tears of sadness. He'd cried tears of pain, ecstasy, anger, but sadness was something he hadn't felt in a very long time.
And then the memories drowned in the haze of alcohol, which soon became a puddle, then a stream, then an ocean; a place where he could tie a cinder block to his feet, and drown his sorrows.
While Boone was on the brink of passing out, Veronica closed the door to their room before turning on the lights and motioning for Cass to sit down, straggling up a seat for her and herself.
"So Veronica, waddya wanna to talk about?"
"Anything...different." she replied. "Girly stuff, I guess." A frown formed on her face; was that the best her addled mind could do? A distraction of playing a friendly game of Caravan could have been better, maybe a game of poker or blackjack would have sufficed as an alternative; anything would have done better than 'Girly stuff, I guess'.
Cass looked confused, scratching her head with one hand after the other lifted her rawhide cowboy-looking hat. "Not sure I get ya." She spoke slowly, confusion clear in her surprisingly sober-sounding voice; no slurring, no flushed red cheeks...the Courier was changing everyone's lives, it seemed.
"You know..." Veronica looked stumped as to how, exactly, explain what she meant, before a flash went off. "Um, I guess...what kinds of things do regular girly-girls talk about?"
"I see... well then, let's start with friends. Who are yours?"
Veronica looked distraught as all her friends had either disappeared or were in the BoS bunker."Does Elder McNamara count? He's been like a father to me. So has the medic at the bunker and the scribes." She listed off the amount of friends to Cass, finally stopping when she reached the Courier's name, swallowing as she said it "And Six too, I think".
"...Okay, you certainly don't lack for friends." At this, they both gave a weak laugh before she continued. "So...hobbies... I swear if you say punching and reading about punching, I'll punch you."
"Well..." she said, stifling a chuckle at the previously made joke from Cass. "I like to read old pre-war books, and like to learn different languages." She continued: "I also learn different religions, and I'm trying to follow Six's, but it's too complicated." The last part she whined out, earning a small chuckle and the shake of a head from Cass.
"I think...I think she said her religion was...crap, what was it...? Uh, I think it was something to do with a...Kami? No, no, that wasn't it...God, I think?" Cass' voice as trying to sound inquisitive and confused, but failed; she already had an inkling as to why, exactly, Veronica was distracted, but failed to see why coming to her for a distraction would help, considering she was...'entangled' with the objet of her distraction in the first place.
"Wait...God!?" Veronica gained a look of shock and glee mixed together as she anxiously awaited an answer.
"You didn't know? She doesn't follow it a lot, but she does believe in certain...things, I guess." She shot a look of smugness at her intelligence- or Veronica's lack thereof- concerning the Courier back at the beaming and smiling Veronica. "Next thing: crushes."
At that word Veronica looked hesitant to answer and instead opted for the subtler approach."What?!"
"You heard, girly. Who do you like, and please don't say me." She groaned, looking as if the world had turned on her. "Damn headache...ah, right, you know I'm with Six, right?" Veronica nodded, looking down for a second before looking back up with a neutral expression. "Your face says otherwise."
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." She childishly crossed her arms and looked the other way, tilting her chin to regain some of the lost dignity form being caught out.
"...Course not..." Cass decided to break the now tensing atmosphere dredging into the room by coughing, causing Veronica to hesitantly look her way. "So, crushes other than her?"
Veronica's cheeks seemed to be flushed with embarrassment. "Y-You tell me first."
"Oh, so you want to play it like that? I did just say I was with her, but I guess...if I went straight, I'd go for Boone." Lifting a whiskey bottle to her lips absently, Cass watched as a look of shock, though some parts of fanatic enjoyment of the moment mixed in, spread across the younger girl's pale face. It reminded her of Six's pale cheeks, often compared by her to the colour of snow; that comment never failed to turn them from white to red.
"Boone!?" she nearly shouted and her voice went to the quiet, whispering state it was in before. Thankfully he had not heard her shout; it would just be plain embarrassing if the ex-NCR sniper did.
"Ssssshhhh, yes it's Boone. I like men with dark pasts." She shot a look of amusement to Veronica, it was obviously a lie; this girl was too impressionable. 'Gonna have to beat it out of her'. "So, what do you look for? You know, in a woman?"
"I suppose... quiet ones, but not too quiet. Knows how to handle themselves and is very mysterious." At the questioning looks from Cass, the Brotherhood scribe grew defensive, a large crease forming on her face. "Hey! I like them mysterious, okay!?"
"So, like who?" she saw the distraught face on Veronica's features as she tugged on her hood, lowering it further over her face. "You got to tell me."
"I tell you and you promise not to tell anyone else? At least, not without my permission. Got it?" she stopped and thought for a minute, a confused frown on her pale face before it lit up again as if a light bulb had just gone off in her brain. "Oh, and don't get mad!"
Cass gave a nod towards her, showing that she understood what the woman was getting at and respected her privacy.
"It's..." swallowing the lump in her throat, she tried to muster the strength to complete the sentence, but the strength she mustered vanished in a haze of panic. Cass had a short temper, known for it in fact, so how would she react? She promised not to get angry or go nuts or something, but you could never tell. Then there was the fact that she could see a frown forming on Cass' face, but as soon as it was there, it vanished in a glassy look of understanding.
Cass could see the turmoil on Veronica's face, the look of dread for something, and figured it had something to do with her; what with the look being sent her way, it wasn't hard to guess. But why? She'd told Veronica that she knew of her little 'Courier crush' as she named it, and that she was flattered and could care less. Was that it? The person she had a crush on- or still, if her guess was correct- was the Courier?
Veronica looked distressed now, a look of something abject to fear spreading on her face. Cass seemed to take a sort of pity on her- perhaps telling her stories of her old 'Whiskey Rose' days was a bad idea.
She placed a hand on Veronica's shoulder, noting how the girl flinched under her touch. "Hey, I ain't mad, it's Six, ain't it?"
Veronica nodded, relief flooding her system but a look of wariness, as if stepping on eggshells inside a sleeping Deathclaw's lair. "Yeah...you...you don't mind?"
"Naw, I have to deal with people hitting on her all the time, it doesn't bother me." Cass took on a tone of warning, looking at her with a mix of predatory likeness to a hunting cat, and a look of warning. "Just don't try and take 'er from me, she's all mine."
"Yeah, sure...but she's hot."
"I know, kid, I know."