The Last Thing You Never See

The Mojave has a certain way of breaking people that Craig Boone is all too familiar with. He is a cracked and broken husk of the man he once was, a soldier fallen from grace and consumed by a suicidal desire for revenge. He knows that he follows death at it's heels in pursuing the Legion, and he just can't bring himself to care anymore. Roleplay Blog for Craig Boone from Fallout: New Vegas. . Will rp outside of fandom. Please read through all links below.

[redberetbear]

me: [softly] for fuck's sake

[redberetbear]

For @sanguinariis

“Well, this is some shit.” Boone grumbled, climbing out of the runner to look it over. He’d checked it recently too and yet here it was…broken down and refusing to work with him. He sighed, shaking his head. A settlement wasn’t too far off, but it was too late for the poor car.

He would just have to hoof it he figured. Honestly, he was…perhaps too distracted thinking about that as he gathered his gear from the car. He was exposed, and didn’t even consider the dangers! This area was usually safe, after all.

[redberetbear]

Forgetting the Past [Arcade&Boone]

[redberetbear]

betterhealing‌:

They would figure things out. Both men had been through a considerable amount - with and without one another - and surely they were smart enough to be able to scrape by until the bad evened back out into the good. It did look, from at least an outside perspective, that things were getting better at least. That was a start.

It was never an overly pleasant experience. Before it had been the Legion… and the raiders and even other people. Now that the Legion threat had been mostly nullified it didn’t mean there were any less of the rest, and Arcade… well, he definitely had his own share of shit luck too. His past now being somewhat commonplace knowledge definitely didn’t help matters, and while he had moments when he could be devastatingly effective in a fight he was still just one man.

“I’ll keep that in mind. I know of a few areas near to formerly Legion occupied areas that might be good ones to check out, if the first idea doesn’t quite pan out.” A pause, humming softly under his breath. “I’d still prefer to work when I have the opportunity for it. It isn’t as if the Followers currently has a plethora of extra hands helping out after all.”

Having a support system was always better than not though, even if things got bad- especially if things got bad! Boone appreciated the people who were there for him, for Arcade, for Manny. It was always ALWAYS good. Besides…things WERE definitely improving.

Boone knew he would be disgusted with himself, and fearful of people’s opinions of his past got out to the world. Everyone knowing Arcade’s ties, or at least quite a few people knowing- it wasn’t good. The poor guy had to deal with private things being out in the public. How awful. He would fight anyone who gave Arcade shit over it though.

“That’s good.” He said softly, looking him over with a quick and faint smile. He could appreciate the information Arcade had after all. “Just don’t overwork yourself, please. They’ll survive a few days without you….probably.” The sniper thought that the man could do with a break, and stretched thin as they were the Followers could hold on without him for a bit.

[redberetbear]

For @betterhealing

Boone slipped quietly into the lab, two mugs of coffee in his hands. He looked around, noting how empty it was before his eyes fell on the researcher. “Quiet night, huh?” It was barely a question, the answer was obvious.

He moved over to him, setting one of the two mugs beside him. “Figured you’d still be up and might want this.” It had to be helpful for the man after all, having fresh coffee to nurse to help him stay up. The sniper wasn’t about to judge him for not sleeping after all.

[redberetbear]

betterhealing‌:

On a planet like Pandora there weren’t as many loners as one would otherwise suspect - it was so much safer, all in all, to group up with a bandit’s clan. Or even barring that there were some free settlements like Sanctuary and a few others.. those were often utilized as well. Safety in numbers and all that most likely, however Arcade traveled far too much to plausibly ever consider one of those.

Still, it was always good to be able to have a place to go back to. Always.

Boone’s smiles were so rare, so elusive, it almost seemed at times as if they did not plausibly exist. The good researcher had managed to actually catch that one and he smiled back without hesitation. “The effort is there, at the very least.” Sometimes it couldn’t always be successful, however… sometimes people were beyond help no matter how hard you tried. “I’m sure between the two of us we might be able to figure something out.” Hopefully. Either way he continued to assist easily enough, unloading and carrying his weight.

People were always safest together in places like this. Though people themselves could be threats, the most obvious and expected threats were…well the animals. The wildlife could be a hazard, and roving bandit clans could be too. They needed people around for protection, though. Arcade did well enough on his own, but he was also often on the move. It was…definitely a benefit.

At least he had a spot to return to.

He hadn’t even realized he’d done it perhaps, but maybe he did! “You’re doing good work. I wish I could be so selfless.” He snorted softly, almost a laugh. He had always looked out for himself first and foremost. Arcade set his own safety aside to help others- Boone had to remind himself sometimes to do good things. “Yeah, we’ve got this.” He was confident in their combined skillset at the very least. They could handle the damage.

[redberetbear]

Confusion [Boone&Hal]

[redberetbear]

psychotheory‌:

Dahl had wronged Pandora… in fact so excessively many of the bandits on this border world were former members, and prisoners - abandoned to die. Atlas had wronged Pandora - though they were indeed gone now, and many of those who had not been able to escape had made their own lives, scratched out in sand and blood. But Hyperion had become a level in and of itself, something that was a threat to all, and it… wasn’t good.

Hal had seen a lot and done a lot in the entirety of his life. He wasn’t necessarily a good person - nor would he ever claim to be - but it would be a blatant lie for anyone to ever claim the man was a force of evil too. No - he was who he was, how he was, and that was that.

“Yeah, guess they do.” Things happened sometimes. Most of the time things were not necessarily good things either, not down here. “How much further we gotta go?” A pause. “Not that I’m rushin’ or anythin’, but we’ve been travelin’ a fair bit already.” He couldn’t remember it taking this long the last time.

Hyperion persisted long after the others had gone, and that was what made them so much worse. No matter how many times Hyperion was beaten back they seemed determined to keep showing up- Handsome Jack at the helm, guiding them to destroy all life on the planet in the name of making their utopia. It was horrific really, and had scarred the planet and the people far more than any others had.

Boone could say much the same- he’d done plenty of horrible things for Atlas, all in the name of doing his job. He wasn’t a great person, but he did his best anyways. Hal seemed to be doing what he could, and he wasn’t being intentionally malicious so it was fine.

He had, admittedly, taken a different route than Hal’s last pass through the camp- not intentionally of course. He was following his own trail, a path he used near daily. “Not much further.” He looked up, and nodded towards the big building not far off from them. “Sorry, guess I take the long route on instinct.” Whoops.

[redberetbear]

Confusion [Boone&Hal]

[redberetbear]

psychotheory‌:

Given how Hyperion’s leader was on a genocidal path seeking to wipe out the planet and all its inhabitants, including the ones who’d done no harm? Oh yeah, it absolutely made sense just why so many people had issues when it came down to them. Hal would never fault them for that.

It kinda seemed to come with the territory to some degree - whether it was something genuine or a bluff could be another story entirely. In the marauder’s case it was pretty real, however it could be a whole lot worse than what it was - at the very least the man wasn’t deliberately malicious, and his sort of assholery could even be amusing and fun.

“Many.” Of course the bandit had caught that one - so there had been some. Of course a perfect paradise was a little too difficult for even the most hopeful to believe, and Hal… he was not a blind man by any means of the word. “Guess if things were handled fast it would keep from goin’ too outta control.”

Too many companies had wronged Pandora, but Hyperion was the loudest and most aggressive about it. People were afraid, and people were angry. Everyone had lost people, and while people accepted it when it was wildlife or bandits…it was different when it was Hyperion.

People who weren’t naturally cruel or prone to harsh words adapted a shell to suit the nature of the planet. Of course, Boone could see through those who were just acting tough to avoid trouble. Hal didn’t seem to be one of those people- but he struck him as someone who wasn’t entirely cruel.

“Nowhere is perfect, and things happen sometimes.” He shrugged. “Like I said, it’s nothing we can’t handle though. It’s always done and over with pretty quickly.” They knew how to handle themselves, and problems never stayed problems very long.

[redberetbear]

betterhealing‌:

It wasn’t much of anything at all, one way or the other, but it was the closest to a home that Arcade had on this godforsaken planet. It make take a bit of time, depending on what he was doing and how far he’d gone in his work down here… but inevitably he would return.

Wasn’t as if he had much in the way of consistents otherwise.

“It’s kept both myself as well as other people alive, that’s for certain.” Because of course the spare supplies he didn’t need were passed off to people who did - that probably should’ve been something expected. Thankfully he did manage to get that door propped open and he headed over towards the runner, intending to help get out the boxes in the process. “Hah well, I’d appreciate that too. It took a skag decently hard before the last time I’d left, and I’ve not quite managed to pinpoint where the damage might actually be to fix it, the few times I’ve had to look at it.”

Everyone had to have their one place to go back to- right? He was sure that most of Dalton’s men thought that way of their camp, and a lot of loners like Arcade had their favored spots. Their own little hubs where they could rest, and be relatively safe. Perfect safety was impossible on Pandora.

He needed the consistency.

Boone smiled a moment, the look gone as fast as it came. “Well, helping people is what it’s all about, right?” Dalton had always said that they had to help as many people as they could- it was the right thing to do! He trusted her on that. “I’ll see what I can do. No promises made, of course but- I might be able to do something.” Two heads were better than one too, right? He figured they could do it, somehow. At least unloading wouldn’t take too long with Arcade’s help.

[redberetbear]

Confusion [Boone&Hal]

[redberetbear]

psychotheory‌:

It was how it was. There were horrors everywhere, no matter where a person went, and it was up to them just how they managed to survive it all. Hyperion was just one faction and sure, they weren’t exactly great by a remote long shot, but they were nothing compared to some of the other ones out there. Even Dahl had been pretty shitty too.

At the very least it could’ve been far worse - Hal was an asshole, sure… he made no bones about that. That said he really wasn’t the outright hostile sort of person, despite being a surly bastard, and was probably reasonably on the milder side of things given how people on Pandora tended to be. He just… had a skewed sense of humor at best.

“I suppose you say so.” Not even a deliberate insult towards Dalton - he didn’t know the woman well enough yet to properly agree or disagree. “Ain’t lookin’ like this place is much the worse for wear, for any incidents that happened.” Not a bad thing right there - they must’ve been handled swiftly enough.

Boone would never claim there were no other monsters out there. Atlas had ruined so many lives, he was aware of that. Dahl had ruined plenty too- but Hyperion got a special place in the heart of Pandora. All things considered, it made sense didn’t it?

Most people on Pandora were assholes, it was just kind of how they worked. That was the nature of the planet- but some assholes were slightly more friendly than others. Or at least, slightly more benevolent. He tolerated Hal’s sort, and understood people like him to an extent at the very least.

“There haven’t been many…..major incidents.” He noted softly, looking around. “But, we handle things quickly, and we bounce back pretty well.” The people here, he thought, were resilient. They had survived thus far, and didn’t want to break that record.

[redberetbear]

Confusion [Boone&Hal]

[redberetbear]

psychotheory‌:

It could be much worse. Sure, Pandora was absolutely dangerous…. but it was just one border world. There were others out there that was just as bad, if not worse, and that wasn’t even scratching the surface as to just how awful some of the varying factions within the universe could be. Hell - Hal heard about Atlas and Dahl; he’d rather face Hyperion again all things considering.

Mutual benefit was always for the best - there was so much that could be gained, and so little lost.

While the marauder would’ve laughed until he wheezed about being called benevolent - he wasn’t - he definitely wasn’t being deliberately monstrous or cruel. He was just an asshole… it was what it was, came with the territory, and thankfully for once he wasn’t finding himself landing in incidental trouble for it.

All the better, right?

“That could be a lil’ dangerous, I guess.” A shrug there. Maybe it wasn’t his business just how Dalton ran things, but… “Sometimes the dangerous ones ain’t the ones y’expect. Seen it before - never a fun time right there.” Not even close, and he shook his head a little bit for it.

He was sure that there were worse places, more dangerous places. He thought of the rumors of the deeps of Promethea, of places deeper and darker still. There were horrors out there, man was just one of them. Still, he would suppose he agreed there- Hyperion was the least of the evils, wasn’t it? He really didn’t know how deep it went with them.

In Dalton’s eyes there really wasn’t much of a loss to either side.

His words were pretty tame, for the most part. Boone didn’t mind, and he would have been amused at the man’s humor. One could be an asshole and still be relatively benevolent- you could mean well while being awful. Hell, you could do good while treating others with disrespect. It happened sometimes.

“She has good instincts.” He shook his head. “We’ve had incidents, but they’ve been handled quickly…and they’re few.” People seemed to know that Dalton wasn’t going to tolerate their attempts to ruin the peace of her group. Or, maybe they had already found places among other bandits, he couldn’t be sure of it.

[redberetbear]

@sanguinariis

“You know….” The sniper remarked, looking down at the psycho. “You seem a little….lost.” He scowled, really not wanting to deal with something like this at the moment. Why did these bandits always think they could just meander into someone else’s territory and get away with it.

“You’ve got this one chance to pay better attention to your borders, or I won’t hesitate to handle you.” He wasn’t the type to play games after all.

[redberetbear]

Confusion [Boone&Hal]

[redberetbear]

psychotheory‌:

Without a doubt they were a group that definitely stood out compared to many of the locals. Though that wasn’t a fair assessment either - Pandora was a dangerous planet, where both the natural wildlife, plant-life, and in some cases the planet itself were adamantly trying to kill you. Of course people had adapted to how they could best survive.

Perhaps it would be just enough to actually make things work. Both groups would absolutely benefit from one another.

Le’s face it between those two alone most anyone who knew them should probably be mostly immune to snark by this point. Thankfully in this case it definitely hadn’t been the malicious sort to come from Hal - he wasn’t genuinely trying to get a rise out of the guard, but he couldn’t help but to mess around at least a little bit either.

“Mmm… probably helps who she picks’n chooses t’stay here too.” If she turned people away… hell, the marauder didn’t know. He had never proclaimed any want or interest to be a sort of leader type - kinda wasn’t his style right there. He was too solitary for that, probably… something like that.

Pandora was a dangerous place, and some people were better adapted to it than others. Still, it was easy to tell who was slightly less adapted, and Boone preferred it. People who had learned Pandora, but hadn’t lived on it tended towards being just a bit more predictable than those who had been left behind by Dahl after all.

He was sure it would help them both out really, they had a lot to gain from one another.

He was absolutely immune to snark by then, unflinching in the face of it. Hal couldn’t harm or bother him through it, and he at least knew as well that the man wasn’t trying to be cruel, he was just being sassy. He knew cruel sarcasm when he heard it, and Hal was pretty damn benevolent.

“There’s not much of a process there, the only people she turns away are people who are a direct threat to her.” He said it calmly, matter-of-factly. She didn’t like turning people away, so she didn’t unless she absolutely had to. People came to her for protection, and so she would protect them.

[redberetbear]

for @psychotheory

Out in the wastes of Pandora it was a mess. There were dangers at every turn, for everyone really. Boone hadn’t expected to run into anything in this area though. It was usually free of unsavory sorts, people knew better than to mess around in spaces too close to the turf belonging to Bandit lords. Or, most people it seemed.

The scene he had chanced upon, from a safe distance, was certainly interesting. A few psychos, well armed, seemed to have cornered someone along a well used trail and were acting hostile. He didn’t recognize the gang markings worn by the psychos, but he did recognize the one on the man they were harassing. That was all it took to make up his mind as his rifle was lifted from its place on his back. The psychos had sure as hell made one horrible mistake- and he didn’t care if it involved bandit gang politics or not.

No one messed with Dalton’s allies.

Taking aim he held his breath, and pulled the trigger- watching the elemental round as it sailed from the muzzle of his gun, before splitting into the skull of the one he had taken to be the leader of the psychos. He watched, satisfied that he had offered the man a fighting chance from afar, exploding into a burst of electricity that stunned the two psychos that had been standing closest to him. Boone knew he had aimed just right that the man they’d cornered would be fine.

Finally, he moved to leap down from his perch, rifle stored away across his back as he drew forth an atlas pistol from his bag, moving to make his way towards the scene and- oh he recognized that man! “You alright?” Gruff words towards Hal, as he turned to fix a murderous glare on the psychos that remained. They had certainly made a mistake.

[redberetbear]

betterhealing‌:

Staying in one place simply held far too many dangers - both the human and the nonhuman kind. Arcade didn’t exceptionally mind it, and the traveling he did around the planet absolutely did help in his work… plus no matter what he always made his way back to here, somehow.

“Well, I can’t say I don’t appreciate it - you and I’d both know just how much of a lie that would be.” It took only a moment to get the door unlocked, but he had to half shoulder it open with some force - something had gotten damaged in the hinges between him leaving and returning, and he hadn’t had the chance to try to fix it yet. “I’ll help carry.”

He was predictable in a way, knowing he would always be back to this spot eventually. He had to come home, because even if he chose not to stay long periods at a time, it was home. Having somewhere to go back to was important really.

“She and I both know you appreciate everything brought to you, and you put it to good use too.” He smiled for a moment, and watched him struggle with the door. He nodded to the offer to help, and led him to the runner, moving to lift one of the large boxes of supplies free. “You want me to take a look at that door while I’m here? Could get it fixed in a few minutes probably.” He wanted to help.

[redberetbear]

betterhealing‌:

Surely it was something that wasn’t as commonplace lately. Arcade felt as if he half-existed on a near permanent state of on the go - between going here and there to get the things he needed for his research and the help that so many on Pandora did genuinely need… he couldn’t be at his makeshift him as often as perhaps he’d like.

That voice was a familiar enough one however. The researcher quite liked the surly guard, and it was with amusement that he moved to leave his work - heading towards the door. “Yeah yeah, I’m here. I wasn’t expecting any sort of supplies for a while though.” If ever - Dalton needed to prioritize her people over him after all.

It was fair, to constantly be on the go. Especially on Pandora. The planet was unforgiving, and travel helped keep it off your ass, even for a little while. Besides, Arcade had a lot of important work that he had to travel for didn’t he? That was important too!

“She got her hands on some extra goods and wanted to share the fortune is all.” He smiled a little bit, a quick flash of it really. Arcade was well looked out for by the bandit queen, she made sure he had things- important things. “It’s all in my runner, I can get it all when you’re ready for it.” Not wanting to rush him.

[redberetbear]

for @betterhealing

“You shouldn’t work yourself so hard and stay up so late.” Boone said quietly, moving to set the mug of coffee on the table beside Arcade. “I’ve been there before, it doesn’t do your head any kindness.” And he didn’t want to see his friend suffering. He was sure the man’s lover wouldn’t appreciate it either.

“What’s on your mind?” God only knew, he’d laid his own troubles on Arcade so often- he owed the man a shoulder and an ear.

[redberetbear]

for @betterhealing

The sniper sighed as he slipped into the doctor’s office. He was quiet as he moved, not really trying to sneak- just maintaining all of his training. He found it difficult to drop his soldier skills when he wasn’t in the field, especially around the base.

“I have some files for you.” He said softly, not even realizing he might spook the poor man. “Brought them back from the last op, thought they’d be useful for your work.”