best in 1/2

Happiness is…

It was roughly 6:25 am, according to the Vaultie's wrist contraption- a pipboy, if he remembered right -and he and his employer were finishing up their sweep of Paradise Falls. What an ironic name for such a place. Paradise implied goodness and happiness, but there was none of that there. But, as he watched his current employer scrounge around and loot the corpses of freshly fallen slavers for various things, caps and ammo not the least of which, Charon concluded that he didn't know what happiness was.

Of course, he was happy to be out of that godforsaken corner in Ahzrukhal's less than morally acceptable establishment, but was that truly happiness? He didn't know. His foggy eyes followed the teen's every move. He watched as she plucked up a few caps and some variation of an assault rifle from one of the bodies- even a finger -before heaving a super sledge up and attempting to carry it to their next destination. He took it from her, much to her relief, and they left Paradise Falls.

Charon was not the type of man who often had the time to indulge himself with thoughts about this or that, if not because it just wasn't his nature, he could blame it on rarely being allowed to have his own thoughts. With her, he noticed he could speak freely, he could wander around, he could eat and drink in her presence, and that made him feel good. He valued his time with her, even if she was hard to keep track of and even harder to hold a conversation with- the things that ran through her head were amazing. But was that really happiness?

He often tried to follow her example, and use her form of happiness to his advantage, but that rarely worked. He knew what she loved, and that was doing the right thing and making people proud of her. Sure, there was the incident with the ghouls over at Tenpenny Tower, and sure that annoying bastard Three Dog was relentless in his verbal assaults against her, but her brand of happiness was a good brand. It just wasn't his brand.

Thanks for listening chiiildren! This is Three Dog ooooouuuut! And you're listening to the Galaxy News Radio Station, where we're telling you the truth. No matter how bad it hurts.

That man seemed all sorts of happy, Charon noted. He wondered if it was because of chems, because anyone that happy could not have been in the right state of mind. But, he wasn't the type of man to really give two shits what someone else did to make themselves happy, so long as their brand of happy didn't involve his employer getting harmed in anyway. In fact, when it came to what other people thought was happiness, which was usually the death of his employer, Charon often found himself vehemently filling their faces with the buckshot from his combat shotgun.

The recoil of the weapons fire made his arms numb yet tingle strangely. He would feel the vibrations all the way down into his legs, and it felt good. It felt good to hear her scream out in shock and surprise as a Yao Guai rushed her, or as a Raider attempted to put his or her hands on the kid, only to have him put them down in a most violent fashion. She did not condone his tendency to mock his victims- what else could they be? -but she never said anything against him when he'd chase after their fleeing forms, shotgun at the ready.

What's the matter, can't stand the sight of your own blood?

It felt good to pull the trigger, to send the pellets flying and to watch the enemies of his contract holder collapse to the ground, gripping their wounded bodies feebly. Shows them for fucking with his boss. He'd shoot them one last time, even knowing they were dead, before returning to her side as he always did. He'd stand and watch over her vigilantly, even in the safety of her home in Megaton. Even with all the people, the bot and even that dog of hers. He'd sit on the chair in her room and wait, gun always on his back, but always quick to be pulled when threat flashed it's ugly face.

And as Charon pulled his finger back, he could almost feel the inner workings of his gun. He could feel everything it did, right up to firing off the rounds. And as he stepped up and dealt the finishing blows to a writhing and squealing rad scorpion, Charon came to the realization that he knew just what his brand of happiness was.

To him, happiness was...

His brand of happiness…was a warm gun.

The first in a set of challenges issued by a friend of mine, BlackRaptor93, I give to you, Happiness is...

Featuring everybodies favorite ghoul, Charon.

This one was particularly fun to write, brought on by Charon telling me in game that he found 'happiness in a warm gun'. I was all over him when he said that. Though I had to stop several times to ask myself if Charon would think such a thing while I was writing this. Ah well. The next emotion up is Anger, not sure who will make an appearance in that chapter, though. Any suggestions? =D

If anyone reads this, please let me know if you liked (or disliked) this chapter, and any of the ones to follow. Reviews help an author get better, ya know~