For the record, I hate nature.

Seeing Xao is a reminder that injuries from animals make up the majority of stimpacks that I have ever used. In China, it was a Siberian Tiger... Here, it was the goddamn mirelurks.

I was operating in Northern China, gathering intel on troop movement near the Russian border and hunting a target. I was based in an anti-government village about 20 miles from my area of operations and I had let it be known that I was looking for a guide for the area. Xao had been the first person to come to me about the job. He didn't even ask what I was paying - he was too excited about being involved with something that was designed to hurt the government. His entire family had been wiped out in an air strike and his hatred for the people in charge was a seething pit of anger.

We had been out and about for a week when I managed to get myself attacked by the damn tiger. Xao managed to kill it and then managed to get Me back to his village. He is the only person who ever needed to save my life. When they pulled us out of China, I tried to get them to extract Xao as well, but they would not have it. I remember him watching from the ground as the helicopter took me home. According to him, soon after that, he started to work his way west managed to get to Europe and then stowed away on a freighter that was Boston bound. He finally set foot in the Commonwealth about 2 days before the bombs fell.

His belief system prohibits him from committing suicide so once he became a ghoul, he just marked it as punishment for sins from another life. He spent a lot of his time drunk, or just sitting waiting for death, but it wouldn't come. Then he started to hear the stories that were being carried by the caravans. Raider bodies all over the place, Jared's messy end and the warning it conveyed, and other events that didn't even involve me. Jared was the one that convinced him that I was somehow responsible. I did take it out of my own play book after all.

I told him about Nora and Shaun. I explained that I had just opened the biggest can of shit that I could have by, pretty much, declaring war on the institute.

"How can I help?" Was his response to everything I told him. This is why I just love this guy.

The first thing I told him is to not call me "Mogui." I had used the name in the letter I sent to the institute and the last thing I needed was for an immediate correlation to be made. It had already spread like wildfire through the people who had been hearing and passing on the stories. Some of those stories, by the way, are not true. I have not been targeting "Gunners," whoever the hell they are, and I have killed maybe 5 or 6 super mutants, not the dozens that are being talked about. In addition, I did not clear Corvega by myself. I mean, I could have, but I had help.

What I needed was for him to stay at my place and lay low. I gave him a bandana and a pair of Aviator sunglasses that were to be used if he absolutely needed to leave the house. Diamond City had a strict "No ghoul" policy and I didn't need to draw attention. I invited Arturo over for lunch and introduced the two of them, explaining that if I wasn't home, that Xao was my point of contact. Arturo was un-phased by Xao being a ghoul. In turn, Arturo asked me if I was going to be around tomorrow because he might have something for me. He had a line on an RSh and it might be arriving before noon. I Told him that I would clear my social calendar.

I checked my cap stash and was sitting on top of about 3,500 again. I noticed Arturo was wearing a new pair of boots. They appeared to be of some kind of lizard skin and when I asked, he informed me that it was deathclaw hide and they were very expensive. I can imagine... the caravan part of his business was really taking off I guess. He also told me that deathclaw hide was a good defense against energy weapons which got me to thinking.

After lunch, I grabbed Heather and we headed out to the Warwick estate. I found the remnants of the mirelurks that I had killed on the porch. I pulled out my 10mm and fired at the body. The round bounced off the shell. I pulled out the laser pistol and fired it... same result. Next came the .44 which managed to knock off a small chip. Finally the 12g. At 10', even those ricocheted off the shell. At a foot, they blew a chunk out. I pulled a hacksaw I had brought from the shop out and started cutting a 2'x2' and several 1'x1' sections from the carcasses. The smell was awful, but if these things were still this hard after sitting for days untreated, what would they be like if I figured out a way to treat them, panelize them, and then slide them into pockets inside of my coat? When I explained it to Heather, she sat down with a pensive look on her face and watched what I was doing carefully. When I finished, she asked for the saw.

When we got back to Home Plate, Xao warmed to the idea immediately and recommended trying both shellac and wax. The ancient Chinese had apparently used both of those to effectively create some of the best and lightest leather armor in the world at the time. Between the materials I had on hand and a load of stuff from Crazy Myrna, we started experimenting.

We screwed around with things until day-break and had managed to figure out that boiling the mirelurk shell in wax and shellac at a low boil for an hour makes it both flexible and porous. It was also easier to cut with the saw. By scraping the shell clean on the inside, anything that might smell funky is removed as well. We are getting ready to crash now but have managed to build a set of chest armor based on the design of standard combat armor that comes in at about half the weight. It is hanging on a hook over the stove, drying and hardening. Today, after some sleep, we are taking it out and shooting at it. If this crazy shit works like we hope it does, we are going to get heather decked out and then add another layer of ballistic protection to the coat.

Yee-fucking-haw. I am going to be bulletproof.

PS - cheap materials - make for profit?