Title: Never Forget Who We Are
Pairings: Charon/F!LW; perhaps more in the future
Summary: The Lone Wanderer finds herself in the Mojave after walking much too far. She takes up a job as a courier in order to feel less important but can't seem to keep herself out of trouble. This will have many parts. How many, I cannot say.
Notes: We have to get through some stuff before we can get to the stuff. Perhaps grab a glass, this'll be a long one. And don't worry, it won't be just me retelling the New Vegas story. There'll be lots more than that, with the New Vegas story acting as a timeline.
I posted this on the kink meme first, but then figured I might as well repost it here, too!
She was in agony. She was engulfed by dark clouds so thick she couldn't see, couldn't feel. She couldn't even breathe during the worst of it. If she drifted under, let herself stop feeling, the clouds didn't hurt her. It was when she felt herself being yanked through them that she felt the most pain. Slowly, her eyes opened and she took one last tumble through the clouds. "You're awake. How 'bout that?"
She flinched. An unfamiliar voice. When her eyes finally focused, she squinted, stared. An unfamiliar face. As she tried to get up, she heard him continuing to speak but she couldn't understand his words. Finally, she heard him say, "How about your name? Can you tell me your name?"
And then she realised she had nothing. Nothing she could hold onto. "Cathy," she finally said, with no idea where that name had come from. Maybe it was hers, maybe it meant something, maybe it was just a name she'd heard once before. Either way, it didn't matter. She could pretend she could feel it.
And so it went on. She was Cathy, and since she couldn't remember one damn thing about herself, she began answering all of Doc Mitchell's questions the way she thought that Cathy would. Not that that meant anything, but it made her feel like she wasn't pulling all her answers out of her ass.
She was released in a Vault 21 jumpsuit that felt way too familiar and curiosity about the device on her wrist which seemed to have Doc Mitchell equally confused.
After deciding not to dwell on it, and after speaking with the robot who had dug her out of her shallow grave, she made her way to the saloon to talk to Sunny Smiles like she was instructed.
But before she could speak to Sunny, a leather armour clad ghoul made his way over to her, much to Sunny's shock, and made an expression that could almost be described as a smile. "You return," he said. "Shall I join you once again?"
And Cathy frowned deeply. "Have we met?" she asked, genuinely confused.
"That's not funny," the ghoul said, staring at her with slight worry. "You are my employer, in case you forgot."
"Employer." She repeated the word carefully. "Like boss?"
"Yes." And there was no amusement in his voice to be heard but he was sure she was trying to be funny.
"And you... what? Use that pretty gun of yours?"
"When the situation arises."
She nodded slowly. "You seem to know me. So tell me. Do I have a gun, too? Can I shoot?"
"You're far from the best I've seen, but you aren't bad with a laser pistol."