The mechanical thunk thunk thunking of the protectrons up the littered aisles between the bookshelves was a test of Ace's nerves, and he took to rapping the toe of his boot against a broken terminal as a means of distraction. At any point, he expected that creepy swivel of their ocular lens and the heat of their laser blasters to zap past his head—or worse, into his head. He'd been zapped before, in other, less lethal places, and the burn was a bitch.
Speaking of bitches.
Audra tossed her mop of red hair out of her face, glaring hard at the map sprawled across the table in front of her. She didn't bother looking up. "Would you stop making that fucking noise?"
Ace slide his feet off the table and onto the floor, "I don't know how you can get two thoughts out with those metal heads clanking around."
The furrow between her dark brows deepened. "You're just scared of em'."
"Not scared. I don't trust something I can't talk to."
"They talk."
Ace set his gaze on the hard set of her jaw. "You're a piss today. The scribbles on that paper not pretty enough for you?"
She looked at him then, corners of those lips curling up. His stomach did a little lurch. "You found it."
"I found it." She peeled the map up, its edges browned and curling. He was surprised it looked as well as it did. A lot of things were on it, a lot of lines, a lot of names he didn't recognize. Audra traced her finger over a dirty, tiny blot, "This is it—The Fountain of Youth. It's at a place called St. Augustine in the Gulf Commonwealth."
Ace pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's left of the Gulf Commonwealth. Nobody goes down there, ever think that's for a reason? When will you quit chasing fucking fairytales, Red—you're a grown ass woman."
She narrowed her eyes, the gray color of them looking more stormy sky than crystal right then. "They're not fairytales when you're taking my caps. My father went there, it exists."
"He didn't come back either, did he?"
He could tell by the way she was looking, like a pack brahmin refusing to walk, that nothing he said was gonna take hold in that pretty little head of hers. It was tragic, what people did believing in their families. Another point in his favor for not having any.
He leaned back in the rickety desk chair, lighting up a cig from his pack. "I suppose you're gonna go tromping all that way by yourself then, huh, Red?"
Carefully, she began rolling up the map. "Not a chance. You're going with me, you and everyone else caps can buy."
He took a hardy drag before again releasing the smoke in a thick ring. "Least we'll all die somewhere warm."
Welcome to the SYOC, everyone! I've been on hiatus for a while now, but I decided I'd come back and give writing here another shot. This'll be my first story, submission one or otherwise, in the Fallout universe.
The premise the story is thus:
Set in June of 2229, a few short weeks after the Broken Mask incident in Diamond City and 58 years before the Sole Survivor emerges from Vault 111, Audra Brekker (woman in the intro above), daughter of mercenary and self-proclaimed explorer Daniel Brekker, finds the supposed location of the legendary Fountain of Youth on a pre-war map of the Gulf Commonwealth. Having grown up on tales of the mythical waters from her father, who ventured out into the ruins of Florida himself to find the fountain fifteen years prior and having presumably failed, she decides to take her small fortune of caps she inherited and set out on an expedition of her own. Her right-hand man Ace, a former slave turned raider turned mercenary, is unenthusiastic at the idea and the promise of near-certain death in the vicious swamplands. Despite his best instincts, he takes it upon himself to do Audra's bidding and begins to put together a team of the damned and the desperate, the reckless and the risky, and just the plain fuckbuckets of the Commonwealth to join them on their expedition into a land formerly known as paradise. That's where your characters come in. They can be former associates of Ace's, either from his raider days, someone who knows Audra, someone who happened to see the flyer left on the bounty board in Diamond City, or whatever else interesting you can think up. Your characters don't even have to be from the Commonwealth, so long as they have a reason for being there. Remember to keep the timeline in mind. (if you read all this necessary information, put the word fuckbucket somewhere in your submission form, plsandthankyou).
Please fill out the form below and submit it to me via private message, NOT IN THE REVIEW SECTION. For copy and paste purposes, the form will also be on my profile. Answer each question to the best of your ability and as it applies to your character. As for the characters themselves, make them interesting, make them flawed—this is Fallout. Not everyone is going to be a nice dude. Please give them unique personalities and backstories (I do love a good backstory, don't you?), and try to envision them as real people, or at least well-animated video game characters. And for the love of everything pure and sweet, use proper grammar and full sentences. I spend a lot of time going over forms, and I don't want a headache from trying to decipher a code that barely resembles English. As you can probably tell, this is not first-come, first-serve. The best, most well-developed characters will be accepted. Also, don't harass me if yours aren't accepted; it's nothing personal so do not take it as such. Make your own SYOC if you're unhappy with my decisions.
Also, legend has it that people who review have higher karma than those who don't.
The Great and Mighty Form:
Basics—
Name: (Please include any relevant nicknames or aliases)
Gender:
Age:
Race: (primarily human or ghoul, as third gen synths have not yet been perfected)
Physical—
Height:
Build:
Skin tone:
Facial Features: (what does their face look like?)
Eyes: (What do their eyes look like, what color are they?)
Scars/Handicaps:
Birthmarks/Tattoos/Make-up:
Clothes/Armor:
Mental—
Personality: (be descriptive)
Bad Habits: (like alcohol, cigarettes, chems, or any other vice)
Moral Character: (what do they believe in, do they lie and cheat, what sin would they never commit, how do they view right and wrong, etc.)
Outward Image: (how do they want others to see them? What façade do they put up? Is it an accurate representation of who they are on the inside?)
Self-Image: (how do they view themselves? Is it accurate to who they really are?)
Secrets: (what do they try to hide, what would they rather not have anyone know about themselves?)
Regrets: (What makes them guilty, if anything? Is there something that haunts them when they try to fall asleep?)
Ambitions: (What are their goals? What do they hope to achieve in life?)
Fears: (What thing, feeling, or situation makes your character shit their pants?)
Personal Life—
History/Backstory: (What happened to them in their past that makes them who they are? How did they get to this point in their lives?)
Factions: (Current and former)
Family: (Who are their family? Are they alive? Did your character have a good relationship with them?)
Friends: (Does your character have friends? Who are they? What kind of person does your character consider a friend?)
Lovers: (Has your character ever been in love? With whom? If ended, how did it end?)
Enemies: (Does your character have enemies? Who are they? How did they become enemies? What kind of person does your character consider an enemy?)
Sexuality: (What is their sexuality and what kind of person are they attracted to, sexually and otherwise?)
Occupation: (What do they normally do for a living?)
Equipment & Stats—
Weapons they own:
Weapon of choice:
Special Items Owned: (power armor, pipboy or whatever; don't be too OP)
Strengths: (What skills are they damn good at; MAX 4)
Weaknesses: (What skills are they not so good at; MIN 2-3)
S.P.E.C.I.A.L.: (40 points available)
Misc.—
Favorite Wasteland Snack:
Favorite Wasteland Drink:
Favorite Song from the radio broadcasts:
Quotes: (Dialogue your character would say)
Anything Else? (Did I forget something you'd like to include about your character? Say it here)