The silence was bearable, he had gone through this so many times it was just normal by now. He had been commissioned by some stranger who seemed to seek him out to ask him to take out some woman who had been 'terrorizing farmers and stealing their food' so they had put it, the settlers he went to go ask about this woman telling him where she could possibly be hanging around. She was pretty far out in the corner of the Commonwealth, taking refuge in a cave that was too dark to go into without some sort of night-vision. He sat at a distance behind a rock, watching the cave mouth and being wary of any feral Ghouls that might wander from the Glowing Sea that was rather too close than he would have liked. There wasn't any radiation here funny enough, seeming to be made quite home-like and protected by the small mountain that the cave rested in. It was kind of funny, just waiting out here. Normally he would have ran in, bagged the target and been on his way to collect his caps. But this one… he couldn't go in there without a light, and he wasn't going to go find one only to miss his target and have to wait for her to return or come back out the next day.
It was twilight, clouds had rolled in and it began to lightly drizzle, coating the ground and everything else with a light sheen of mist. Kind of beautiful when he looked at it and thought about it, but he didn't entirely like that he was getting wet. He furrowed his brows some and looked down the sight of his rifle which he had positioned to be looking at the cave mouth. This had better be worth the caps he was getting and the soggy outfit he was going to have to slog around in for a bit until it dried out.
There was something in the mouth of the cave: the shining of an eye becoming visible, just like looking at an animal's eye while they hid in the darkness. What sort of beast mix was this woman? If it was a woman at all; for all he knew, it could have been a damned Deathclaw.
As she stepped out of the cave more, MacCready's jaw nearly dropped and he couldn't believe the sight in-front of him. It was a young girl with pure white hair that seemed to gray at the tips, and… giant snowy-white wings. It was an astounding sight to behold; he'd never seen anything like her before.
No… he did, he remembered. Back when he lived in Little Lamplight; a young girl with wings - just like the woman in his sights - came and stayed for a few days to rest and eat some things to get her strength before leaving without any notice. Nobody knew why, she came and then vanished and barely talked to anyone but him. She would have been more than welcome among the other children, but maybe she didn't want to fit in and stay.
He couldn't believe he was seeing her again. She was a hard one to forget, not every day you spot a person with wings like those. MacCready simply watched her now as she stood in the rain, letting the drizzle collect on her wings before she out-stretched them and gave a hard flap causing the droplets fling off of them and create a mist cloud in the air. She was taking a bath, bathing her wings and cleaning them of dirt. How cute.
He didn't care that his outfit was being covered in rain, being captivated by the girl's strangely beautiful mutation. She wasn't much younger than him, probably a year or a couple of months separating them if he remembered right. Slowly he picked up his gun and began to sneak closer as she simply stood there, allowing the water to soak into her clothing - which consisted of a faded blue long sleeved shirt that was a bit too big for her that was torn in some places, along with gray pants - and hair. If MacCready knew her name, he would have shouted out to her, see if she recognized him. But he didn't, so he'd have to be careful and try not to spook her away. He threw his gun over his shoulder and began to walk closer, giving a soft whistle to catch her attention.
Her eyes went right to him and he could see her body tense up, her feathers ruffling out of fear. He held out his hands and slowly removed his gun and set it to the ground to show he wasn't going to hurt her.
"It's okay," he spoke softly as to not scare her, moving closer and keeping an eye on the rocky ground so he didn't trip. "I'm not going to harm you."
She simply stared at him and took a step back, causing him to stop in his tracks. She wasn't giving him a trusted look, and her breath seemed to pick up the closer he got and he was a bit afraid he was going to give her an anxiety attack. Even with his words being soft she still seemed to be on the edge of either flying into the sky, or turning and bolting into the cave to which he could try to give pursuit but would fail miserably in such a dark place.
"… We've met before," He started out, taking another step closer, hands out like he was trying to calm an angered dog, "… we met when we were kids. Do you remember Little Lamplight?" She met that with the tilt of her head, her wings that seemed to slowly be unfolding ceasing their movements. He smiled a little, "I was the-"
"M-MacCready," she murmured quietly, her voice soft like silk. He almost didn't hear her with the rain picking up now. "… y-you've… changed…"
"Well, I grew up. So did you it seems. Not much has changed for you, huh?" He reached down and grabbed his gun slowly, slinging it over his shoulder. Best to not leave it: it was his favourite gun.
"…" She shook off some water, flinging some of it onto the mercenary. He frowned and furrowed his brows. "Sorry, I-I didn't mean to do t-that," she quickly apologized, hugging herself with her wings wrapping around her body as well. MacCready sighed and smiled, gently resting a hand against her wing – which was a bad idea. She let out a squeak and backed away, startled by the sudden contact
"… Hey, we should get out of this rain; I don't want you to catch a cold…" MacCready spoke up, trying to keep his voice low.
"Y-you should be the one t-to talk. I-I'm used to this n-now…" She spoke softly before allowing her wings to fold on her back. She grabbed at his hand, quickly tugging him along into the cave. He couldn't see a thing in the darkness, only being guided by the winged woman in-front of him. They took a sudden right after a little bit of walking straight, causing a little bit of alarm to shoot through MacCready as he adjusted his course with her, trying to stay behind her so he didn't trip or bump his leg into a rock. He'd prefer not to get crippled right now. They stopped and the sound of a jiggling door handle was heard before light suddenly filed the darkness of the cave. Both candles and small lights powered by a generator hung and sat around the walls of the tiny bunker. She released his hand after tugging him inside, quickly closing the door behind them.
MacCready took a moment, admiring the cleaned look of the small bunker, the small bed that was mostly made out of a giant heap of cloth on top of a mattress and what little food and supplies she seemed to both collect and keep close. It was ingenious, putting something like this in such a dark place and rather deep into the cave to keep out Raiders and whatever else may try to intrude.
"… My grandparents b-built this b-bunker when they w-were still alive, along w-with my mom and d-dad - A-a second home in-case something h-happened a-and we n-needed to get out f-f-for a bit…" the winged woman spoke, her wings twitching as she moved past him after locking the door. She crawled into her nest, peaking at him over her shoulder, "T-they gave me d-directions t-to get here before they l-left me, giving m-me a chance to r-run as… as these men came…" She frowned and wrapped her wings around her body, hugging her legs as she brought them up to her chest.
MacCready frowned, moving to sit on the mattress beside her. He wasn't very good at giving comfort, and he didn't know if what he was going to say would offer too much for it. He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back and up against the wall that the bed was beside. It was uncomfortable, but he didn't care. She looked at him before suddenly wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into his chest.
"... You know, I never did get your name…" MacCready murmured, looking at her before he hesitantly placed his hand on her head, her hair was weirdly soft. She looked up at him, her light blue visible eye staring at him. She gave a winsome smile before she nodded.
"… E-Ellie. My p-parents wanted s-something nice…" she shrugged and brushed some of her white hair behind her ear. He noticed it only came down to her shoulder blades, but that wasn't unnatural - The only thing that did seem unnatural was how soft and fluffy it looked and the colour of it.
"Ellie… nice name indeed. Hey… I've got an idea," MacCready began, leaning forward before standing up, Ellie quickly backing away and curling back up into her little 'nest', "There's this guy; Nate… he'd be more than happy to help you out. Heck, he gave me a good place, food, water, a roof over my head and all the caps and ammo I could carry when I began traveling with him… only thing is I don't know how well you fare around other people… especially when some of them aren't really human… seeing as you were pretty spooked when I walked up…"
Ellie practically jumped up to her feet, her wings flapping quickly, "… Y-you're kidding…"
MacCready shook his head, "No, I'm being serious. If you want, I can take you there in the morning when it's bright. I don't like traveling at night. I feel like we could get ambushed out there. And considering you don't look armed or prepared, I don't want to risk it."
"…" She went to sit back down in her nest, a sad look on her face. "…I… I don't… like to travel in the day. I'm m-much easier to see… and… my sleep schedule is pretty m-much stay u-up all night and s-sleep all day… being what I a-am."
"…. Look, we'll go at four in the morning. It's still dark out for you, but light enough for me. How about that?" MacCready bargained, trying to get her out of this little shack of a place to somewhere better. It was pretty smart being here, he had to admit, but she needed something much more… home-y and needed to be around people, she was so skittish and fearful, and he was planning on changing it. Ellie looked to think it over, rubbing her hands together.
"… Alright. We'll l-leave a-at four," she agreed, nodding her head, brushing a hand through her wet hair. Hell, MacCready almost forgot that he was soaking wet while talking to his friend. The excitement of meeting her again and being shown this little hide-out was enough to make him intrigued and forget a few things; his mission being one of them.
He wasn't sure how he was going to explain that to both Ellie and the person who offered the commission to him. He'd have to forget about all those caps he was going to make, the safety of one of the rarest creatures around was much more important than greed. She needed to be protected and cared for. He didn't think there were any more of her race around, MacCready had never spotted another flying human around. Besides, with how sweet she was being to him, he couldn't bring himself to do it, not now.
Ellie let him sleep on the bed for the time being, seeing as she was going to be awake for the few hours he needed rest. She moved her nest to the ground so he could get comfy on the mattress, seeing as humans didn't sleep in weird cloth piles like she did. He tilted his hat, just enough to the point it covered his eyes before he got comfy with hands behind his head for a makeshift pillow. He'd sleep for now, a small smile on his lips.
MacCready was happy to meet Ellie again; he always wanted to get to know her and her species. He'd never seen anything like her, even with all the types of things he'd seen and what the wastes provided… never something like her. The generator went out and so did the lights - save for the candles. He looked up, guessing Ellie wanted to make it a little easier for him to sleep. He chuckled a little and shook his head before he settled in again and allowing sleep to drag him into darkness, hearing the woman moving around as silently as she could.