#fooctober21

You, Me, and the Gun Between Us [Benny & Courier] - Whumptober No.2: “Talking Is Overrated; Garotte”

These Silly Little Things [Boone/Courier] - Whumptober No.4: “Do You Trust Me?”

A Man-Made Monstrosity [Vulpes/M!Legion OC] - Whumptober No.5: “Betrayal; Misunderstanding”

The Easiest Part Is Letting Go [Courier/Arcade/Boone] - Whumptober No.6: “Bruises; Touch Starved; Hunger”

Please Don't Carry Me Home [Arcade/Boone(/Courier)] - Flufftober Day 6: “Fireman’s Carry”

Just Common Human Fragility [Arcade/Courier] - Whumptober No.8: “Coughing Up A Lung”

I Got Shot in the Head and All I Got Was This Lousy Migraine [Veronica & Courier] - Whumptober No.10 “Flare-Up”

The Courier Killed The Radio Star [Arcade/Courier] - Fallout OC-tober #11: “Your OC’s Biggest Fear; Growth”

When I Say I Hate the Ghost in Our Bed, I Don’t Mean It Poetically [Ringo/OC & Courier] - Flufftober Day 12: “Sleep Kiss”

The Taste of Flesh and Love Forlorn [Vulpes/Legion OC] - Whumptober No.12 & 13: “It’ll Be Fun, They Said” + “That’s Gonna Leave A Mark”

Could He Have This Dance? [Boone/Courier(/Arcade)] - Flufftober Day 14: “Slow Dancing”

If I Could Catch You, I Would Hold You for a Day [Arcade/Boone(/Courier)] - Flufftober Day 17: “Lazy Sundays”

Dearly Departed What Have We Gathered to Witness? [Benny & OC & Courier] - OC-Tober Day 25: “Spirit”

Bury Me in the Wreckage [Vulpes/Legion OC] - Whumptober No.26 & 27: “You Will Go Down With This Ship” + “I’m Fine, I Prom...”

“Wait a minute, are you telling me that Blue...our sweet, lovable Blue...is a synth?” Piper looked as if she were going to be ill. “Like she got replaced when we weren’t looking?” Nick shook his head.

“It’s not like that, Piper. Juliet was a synth the moment we met her. She’s been one all along, and she was definitely not programmed to replace anyone.” He replied. “In fact, I’m not sure just what it is the Institute DID make her for, and neither is she.”

“Maybe she’s a protoype,” Ellie offered from her mountain of paperwork and neglected bills. “It would make sense. She was discarded like you were, Nick and maybe the Railroad found her and wiped her memories.”

“That would make a lot of sense, but the Gen 3s are relatively new still, aren’t they?” Piper hummed in thought. “Their first exposure to the Commonwealth was when the CPG was formed and then the massacre...”

“That was the one we know of, but maybe there’s more to it than that.” Nick countered with a drum of his metallic fingers. “This is getting deeper and deeper the more we dig into it. We might just have to ask Amari about it, see if she remembers. Our girl doesn’t know for sure either. But I also don’t want to dredge up any painful memories for her if she’s happy being who she is now.”

“We should leave it up to her, then.” Piper decided. “It’s her life and her decision to make.” Ellie nodded in agreement.

“I’ll see if I can get her on the radio. She’s been doing some, er, field work with Hancock and Preston lately. She shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Nick thought he caught something of a playful gleam in Piper’s eyes and he narrowed his own.

Macready squinted as the slight woman in front of him lined up her shot. Her posture was good, but it was taking her a long time to pull the trigger. He cleared his throat a little, “Sometime today would probably be a really good time, Boss.” She stuck her tongue out at him, before squeezing the trigger. The bullet hit it’s mark, shattering the glass bottle.

She grinned widely, turning to face him. “That’s four for four, suck my ass Macready!”

He whistled through his teeth, “Yeah, real impressive boss. Now try it again but try not to let an entire afternoon pass you by while you’re doing it.”

She rolled her eyes, “I’m getting better though!”

He reached for a cigarette, “Yeah look, you are. But at a fuh-freaking snail’s pace.”

She holstered the pistol and reached for her own pack of cigarettes, “Look, yeah, OK, sure. But sharp-shootin’ ain’t learnt in a day, is it? Or shooting in general. It’s surprisingly more difficult than point and click.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Point … and click? What gun are you clicking?”

She waved her left hand as her right flicked the wheel on her lighter, “Whatever, whatever. Point is, I’m improving. Be supportive.”

He grunted, about to reply but decided against it. He just didn’t understand how anyone was so bad at shooting. Like, not everyone had his skill, but she was still learning how to hit stationary targets. Did her parents not teach her? Even kids born in big cities, and vaults learnt to shoot. It was … weird.

She was packing up her stuff now, a cigarette hanging from her mouth. The streets around Goodneighbour were good to practice shooting in, but the sun was setting and it was time to disappear back behind it’s grungy walls. At least until his boss could hit something without taking twenty minutes to line the shot up. Then he heard the noise. The growling. His heart thumped, he knew that noise anywhere. He reached for his rifle, but the feral was faster. It reached out from underneath the car they’d lined the jars up on, and grabbed Portia by the foot. She gasped, a sound that was almost hilariously relaxed considering the circumstances and yanked her leg up, trying to get free. That, of course, did nothing but pull the feral further out from beneath the car. He lined the shot up and put a bullet through its eye, it made a sad fwump sound as it hit the concrete.

He grinned, thumbing his hat and opening his mouth for a jibe - something about the boss buying the first round tonight - when the next shot rang out. He hadn’t even seen Portia reach for her gun, but it was now in her hands and her arms were outstretched. Pointing towards him. Sort of. Aiming a little high if she was shooting at him. He turned, she hadn’t been shooting at him. The feral behind him collapsed, the shot had gone through its chest. It wasn’t dead, it was now scrambling around on the road behind him, still moving forward, leaving a dark streak of gore behind it. She shot again, this shot went straight through it’s head. It fell silent and still.

“Nice job!” he breathed out, heart racing.