Authors notes: This is a fanfic that is based on a Roleplay that I have done on Tumblr with my mate SyntheticAurum based on the Fallout New Vegas universe, this takes place after the events of the Courier in the game.
The town of Freeside. The closest someone could get to New Vegas without contacts. It was a dingy town. Dangerous, yet also far safer than most of the other cities thanks to the Kings. With three major sections, the place had everything a lowlife desert wanderer could want. One of the biggest attractions was the Atomic Wrangler. A casino, bar, and brothel all in one. After the power struggle in New Vegas triggered by a mysterious courier occurred, the Wrangler flourished with an influx of customers and start alike coming in from the glamorous city. As such, it was easy to miss one man standing in a corner and sipping whiskey. He wasn't a loner by any means, he had already chatted up a few of the ladies there, but at the moment he was simply people watching. From under the shadow of his hat, the red glow of his one robotic eye flickered as he took another drink of his whiskey.
In his line of sight there was a waitress at a table, encouraging the gambling going on, she had feathers in dress of orange and red and had a strange horned hair band of blue. She looked thin yet rather beautiful and was chatting up the patrons while serving drinks.
The man looked over at the woman. He felt something was special about her. Not in a romantic sort of way, but in a cosmic sense. As if she meant something. He pulled up a scan, yet no file was found on her. He pondered for a moment, before sighing to himself and finishing his bottle of whiskey.
"Oh what the hell."
Screw the cosmos, he'd at least try to get out a quickie with her. He walked over and leaned on the counter next to her, whistling to get her attention.
"Hey, cutie. What's a fi-fi-fine gal such as yourself doin' in a dump like this?"
Even though most of his face was hidden in the shadow of his large hat, she could make out one eye, an oddly charming grin, a stubble covered yet strong chin, and a glowing red orb where the other eye should be. His voice was deep and gravely, with a southern drawl, yet also had a robotic twinge to it.
She looks up at the whistle and sees the man, she smiles at him and walks over. She didn't look like a classic showgirl tart, but she looked very respectable in her feathered dress.
"Making money, enjoying the environment and surviving in this wasteland," she noticed the features of the man and was curious to say the least,"and what about you?"
"Wanderin'. Haven't been around long. Guess ya could say I'm out of t-t-t..."
He rolled his eye and slammed his hand against his head, his head sounding metallic and whirring in response.
"...town. I pardon my stutter. Somethin' I picked up from where i come from. You got a name, pretty lady?"
Now she was very curious, was this what she heard a Synth was? The bar hadn't banned synths because they were only a problem in the far North East of the country. Or was this a robot? Or both?
She looked perfectly unphased by his stutter and answered, "Wild, Wild Bird. Crap name I know, blame parents who were unimaginative. And you?"
"Whatever you want hun...as much as I wish that were a pick up line, it isnt. I dont have one. Blame nonexistent parents. Care for a drink?" He said, gesturing to the bar.
If she was a gambling woman (ha) she was gonna bet this was a robot. She didn't have a problem with that though, "I was about to ask you the same good sir. Sure thing."
She nods and walks him over to the bar, in the light of the bar her facial features came into view. She had raven black hair and bright green eyes, her face looked like a china doll's, both in shape and makeup.
The man walks alongside her. The light also illuminated him, and soon it was fairly clear why he melt himself hidden. She wasn't wrong about the robot...only half wrong. Stitched and welded onto his body were robotic parts, so much so that it was hard to tell if he had originally been a robot who got human parts, or a human who got robot parts. Either way, as soon as he realized he could be seen, he lowered his cap to keep in the shadows. When they got to the bar, he threw a few caps on the table.
"Whiskey for me, and whatever the lady wants."
She saw this and smiles a bit more, at least it wasn't a synth like all the boston tourists had talked about.
"I will have a lime martini."
The bartender nods and makes the drinks. Meanwhile, the man pulled up a stool for Bird, "my lady."
"Thank you very much."
She nods in thanks and sits down, the feathers on her dress puff up a bit and go like a peacock's.
"So what brings a lonely traveller into such an arid wasteland of pleasure and money. Looking at you, you don't seem the type to gamble like the tourists, maybe a drinker but one can do that in any bar."
She had an uncanny ability to read people.
"Honestly? I don't know."
He sighed a bit, before taking off his hat, revealing his robotic fleshy head.
"Look, you've seen me. I'm not natural. I don't remember a thing about my life except for one man. His name is Jacob Octavius and he did this to me. Then I woke up in the middle of the desert. I don't know who i am, what my dreams are, all I know is I wanna find that guy and shoot him in the face."
Their drinks came and he grabbed his, taking a sip.
"You know, I said hi to just flirt with you and get some cheap thrills. But I'm starting to sense something about you. You're not like most of the people here. After all, you just heard my whole story, far as I can remember. What about you? You ain't some cheap hooker like the rest of the women here, huh?"
She didn't look horrified or even surprised at this, if he had expected her to freak out she wasn't going too. She listened to him as she sips her drink, very curious now.
"Oh dear, so that's why you're a cyborg then? At least you aren't a synth and here to replace me haha. It's a very interesting story, a lot of strange things happen out here and that has to be one of the oddest. Sorry about what happened to you."
She was genuine in the apology, and looked rather sorry for him. When the questioning turned about her, she frowns a bit.
"First off, I won't let you insult my girls here. They maybe good at said job but they ain't cheap and they ain't like normal hookers. We're just trying to survive in this wasteland and because of the war and chaos just down the war. Thanks that bloody courier, we had to leave our areas and fan out. Not all of us started out in this job, some of us were fine or at least getting by with our respect."
"Heh, sorry. Dunno what else to call 'em. Nothing else in mah databanks. Only reason I knew that term for it was cuz I heard those two fellas back there talking bad about them. Your girls, huh?"
He sipped his drink again, pointing at two bigger men in the back corner of the room when he spoke.
"Only reason I know what I do is the instructional video that came on my Pip boy and some travelling merchant I met on the way here."
"Typical fellas. I have learned to ignore them and just to keep my temper in check, except if they mess with my girls then there is trouble."
She shifts a bit and noticeable on her leg, attached the stockings was a curved and jagged blade with blood stains.
"Yes my girls. I am like a mother to them, despite being only a few years older than most of them. But being wise and experienced helps and I defend them when needed.
You have a Pipboy? You don't get many of those around here except for the tourists, and often they get nicked anyway. So what do you do?"
"Fair enough. Must be nice having a big family like that, in this wasteland dump."
He took another drink before discreetly pulling out his Pipboy so only they could see.
"You mean you guys don't all have one? I thought they were standard issue...it was on me when I woke up so I figure I got it from where i came from...thing seems useless though. All i found was some odd video. It said it was an introductory video to vault 37. I have no idea what any of that means."
"It is, knowing you have someone's back."
She sips her drink again and looks at the pip boy with a look of warm memories.
"Traders, business, vaults and army have one, most people here don't except if you fall into those areas. That's why they get nicked a lot."
She sips the drink again and then stops at the mention of the vault.
"Vault 37? You're from a vault?"
"Apparently. What's a vault?" He said, tilting his robotic head to her out of curiosity.
"Well... about 200 years ago, this world looked a hell of a lot nicer and was in the middle of a war between this country, the united states and china. Then the bombs flew and the world was never the same again.
People were prepared though, if you had money, influence, kids, stuff like that, company called Vault Tech could house you in so called nuclear fallout shelters or vaults that were dotted all around."
"So I was one of them, huh? Well...looks like i know what my next goal is then...find this vault. But where the hell is it?"
"Yeah, a Vault Dweller they call them. We have had a few of those around here. Including a husband and wife duo from the Brotherhood of steel pass by here, I think they were from New New York."
She sips her drink and finishes it off, "I don't know. But someone will know."