A Few Inches from the Courier...
I act as quickly as possible when I realize Julie has left my friend alone for the night, and that Cass is still getting drunk in some hole somewhere. My friend remains unconscious and unresponsive as I make my way over to her. Carefully, I examine her. Her skin has almost completely returned to its normal pale with only a little yellow around her eyes, lips, and nose; a lump in her stomach in addition to a new feeding tubes shows that she has full control of her digestive systems back; and her ability to now breathe through a nasal cannula implies her diaphragm is finally able to work on its own. Julie has implied within a month we'll be moving the Courier either to Novac or Goodsprings. Somewhere far away from New Vegas in order to let the Courier recover in peace.
There'll be medicine to give and therapy to go through, but once she's out of New Vegas she'll at least have a path to follow. Julie assured us that our friend isn't going to be a ghoul or become even stupider; however, there is one thing we'll need to examine before leaving. We'll need to run her SPECIAL before leaving, and that'll reveal if there's permanent damage or not. If her stats are lowered because of a penalty, then she could technically get her stat back to where it once was. If it's been permanently lowered without a penalty appearing, then she'll forever have that stat lowered.
Honestly, I hope some of her stats are permanently downed. Her losing her strength or endurance will make her more dependent on me. At this point I think I've given up on defending myself to myself. I'm a good person. I believe in doing what's right, I've always fought the good fight, and I've never abused the Courier. I'm definitely a good person. It's normal to want a little for myself. This 'little' being feeding my fetish for the Courier's innocence. It's not like I'm hurting her. She doesn't know what happens when she falls asleep. It's fine. My hand comes up and I find myself beginning to move my friend's thin, baggy white t-shirt upwards.
Obviously, starving herself for so long has taken away her tremendous tits. I'll miss those, but it's not like there's nothing left to look at. Her chest still has (barely) enough fat to cover her mammary glands. I'm once again disappointed her tits have gone from barely being able to be held in my hands to barely enough to fit my palm. I resign myself to her smaller assets and decide to get on with what I'm going to do before Julie or Cass walks in and spots what I'm doing. I rub the Courier's nipples until they're hard and spend time feeling the familiar bumps in her areola. I press the flesh together and cup it in my hands while running my thumbs over her nipples. The Courier shows no signs of feeling what I'm doing to her.
Oddly, I can't quite get past a certain thought. A future where the Courier knows what I'm doing and allows it. A future where I don't have to wait until she's asleep to do this to her. It's a dream that'll never happen, but I still yearn for it. Having her unconscious while I feel her pleases me; I just think feeling her while she's awake would please me more. I crawl up onto the bed with the woman and straddle her lap. Slowly, I remove my left hand from her tit and cut off the gas going into her nasal cannula. My left hand goes up to her face and I slide her blanket over her head (after taking the blanket off of her lap where I'd pushed it down to in order to get to her tit), then force her jaw shut underneath the blanket. The Courier's coyote grumbles underneath the bed where he's hiding, but doesn't fight me.
I keep fondling the woman with my right hand as I bear my entire weight down on her fragile, weak body. There's no way in hell she'll be able to throw me off of her. It takes a few minutes before the woman's awake and fighting. Her muscles have fled her and she can only weakly beat against my chest beneath the blanket in a desperate attempt to move me. I remain where I am and close my eyes. For a few minutes I enjoy what I'm doing. The Courier trying to flee as I keep feeling and getting to know the new flesh that greets me.
Eventually, my curiosity is satisfied. I lean over, take my hand off of the woman's tit, and turn the gas back up to where it was. I use both of my hands to cover the Courier's eyes until I feel her go still. Slowly, I lift the veil and peak down into the darkness. No vibrantly blue eyes meet mine and I'm able to safely move the blanket back to where it belongs. I make up her bed and her until it doesn't look as if anything's off. I pat the Courier on the head and kiss her between the eyes. I've finished just in time because I hear the crunching of footsteps coming towards me. I move backwards and face the entrance to the tent.
Julie Farkas and Arcade enter with a few medical tools in their grasps. The tools are sharp, have tubes tied to a few of them, and all of the instruments connect to one reading device. Julie places the monitor part of the item on a table, then begins sticking it in the Courier or wrapping parts of it around her arm. Cass appears when they're finishing up and carefully/slowly walks over to stand beside me. The woman stinks of booze and from the way she's being unusually still I can tell she's at least somewhat drunk. Julie keeps attaching the machine while explaining what it will do.
"This will measure her SPECIAL and vital signs. If it's all well and good, then we can start discussing when to send her to Novac.". The machine hums and beeps for a while until it lets out a hiss. Julie examines it, bites her lips, and reads off the SPECIAL first.
"Two strength. Suffering a four point penalty from six. Three perception. Suffering a five point penalty from eight. One endurance. Suffering an eight point penalty from nine. Five charisma. Suffering a two point penalty from seven. One intelligence. Permanent damage, but that shows the permanent modifier has been in effect for years. So, no change. Two agility. Suffering a three point penalty from five. Four luck. Suffering a one point penalty from five.". She taps away on the machine for a little more before talking again.
"If she had any implants all of them, besides the one for luck, have been passed through urination when she became heavily radiated.". She stops tapping on her machine and turns towards us.
"Only her intelligence will be permanently locked, and it looks like her brain was scarred when the radiation began getting heavy enough to possibly turn her into a ghoul. It actually looks like the scarring is what saved her from becoming a ghoul or knocking her intelligence down to zero.". She reaches out and pats the Courier's hand.
"Everything actually looks promising. The only negative effect, mentally, that can't be undone is using any implants or items to bump her intelligence up.". My spine shouldn't tingle like it does. I've just been told my closest friend has severe scarring on her brain, and it's now so bad she'll never be able to be smarter than what she was before. I should feel pity and compassion for her. Instead, I just feel happy for myself. She'll always need someone now. Every single time (without fail) when she's alone she gets into trouble. Benny shot her in the head when she was alone, Violet captured her when she was alone, and she almost became a ghoul when she was alone. Besides, it'll take years for her to get her SPECIAL back to what it once was. If I wasn't there for her, then she'd probably die.
Another tingle runs up my spine. Cass shifting her weight beside me reminds me that I'm not the only one vying for the Courier's attention and affection. Cass just wants someone that she can have all to herself. The idea that she has something special with someone else that nobody else can have is what does it for her. The Courier's innocence is what does it for me. Honestly, neither of us are very good, but mine isn't as harmful. I mentally try to think of any way to separate Cass from the Courier without looking suspicious, and when it would be best to do so. I can't think of anything.
Julie making a humming sound brings me out of my mind to pay attention to the woman. She's back to looking at her machine. She bites her lips and keeps tapping away for a few minutes. Arcade keeps adjusting the straps or messing with the needles in the Courier's skin. Finally, after five minutes Julie turns back to Cass and I.
"She's doing surprisingly well. If you two were ready, then we could move her out within a week. She's still too weak to walk, but she won't have all the medical equipment weighing her down. If you both took turns you could easily carry her.". I look over the Courier's body and know Julie's not exaggerating. My friend looks as if we could only weigh a little less than a hundred pounds if she was soaking wet. Cass asks a question I probably should have asked.
"What will we have to do with her?". Julie starts unhooking my friend from the machine she brought in as she tells us limitations.
"She won't be able to talk until she's able to swallow, and she hasn't swallowed on her own since you two found her. Working on getting her to eat small portions of food by mouth and drinking would be top priority. I'd also like to see the two of you begin working on building her muscles back up. Finally, getting her walking and able to do daily activities would be the last step. So far, she's shown she's regained control of her breathing along with basic bodily functions.". Julie reaches out and turns the knob of the Courier's gas until it's off. The woman motions to us. As we walk she explains the situation.
"Arcade will explain the current situation to the Courier. I'll, briefly, train you two to take care of and rehabilitate her.". Cass and I remain silent as Julie takes us away.
Hundreds of Miles from Veronica...
I turn the dials on the radio until I hear Dennis Crocker's voice come through.
"Colonel Moore? Status?". I try not to grind my teeth together as I report.
"Negative for Primm even with local cooperation. I'll be heading up to Novac. Expect a delayed response as the people of Novac don't have an official NCR presence.". Static. I wait until Crocker comes through again.
"Acknowledged. General Lee Oliver hasn't seen any signs of her in Goodsprings, and the locals have been helpful. He headed out for Jacobstown three days ago.". I sigh and shake my head. When Crocker doesn't continue I tell him the current plan.
"I'll get headed out to Novac with my men. Have you put up the wanted posters yet?". His response is quick enough I don't even have time to hear the static.
"Negative, but they just finishes printing up an hour ago. I'll get them out as soon as possible. Over.". His first use of 'over' signifies he wants to be let go. I give him what he wants and cut my radio signal off.
