EDIT: OKAY, THIS IS THE THIRD FUCKING TIME IVE TRIED THIS SINCE TUMBLR MOBILE IS GARBAGE. HERE WE GO.
I got back into writing recently and decided to do something for the wonderful @definitelydeacon for fun. More specifically, something involving my Courier and his, I’m a bit rusty, but I hope you enjoy! <3
It had been fifteen some odd years by Salue’s count that he had ever experienced a dull day in the slums of Freeside. He almost didn't believe it with how chaotic the streets usually were, and yet there he was, revolver at the ready for an attempted mugging that never came. Not even the children that asked him to shoot giant rats for breakfast came to speak with him, instead making their way to Old Mormon Fort where they'd be receiving a sex ed lesson today. Arcade was the one selected to teach the children of Freeside about the birds and the bees this year, something Salue had wanted to join in on, but was sadly turned away from. The reason was something along the lines of Julie not wanting someone to constantly make innuendo based jokes and shove blood sausage through the middle of sweet rolls while someone was trying to teach. Fair enough he supposed, but he thought it would have been educational in its own right.
No matter. Even if Arcade was his main travel companion, grandma Lily was always up for some adventuring. Unfortunately, she too was busy. One of her Bighorners had gone into labor and was giving birth. Boone was scouting out a Legion outpost in hopes of taking it down. Even ED-E had business to attend to, the little eyebot having picked up an Enclave signal at the downed Vertibird just south of Matthews Animal Farm. Part of Salue wonders if this was related to the Remnants at all, but it didn't seem all that likely to him. It might even be some old radio signal that had come to life after years of neglect in a pile of wreckage, one of the few remaining relics of a war fought long ago. Regardless of what ED-E or the others were doing, Salue finds himself at a loss. He could always hit up the Strip for some slots, but the further away from the Ultra Luxe he was, the better. He begins to wonder what hunting spots he hadn't cleared out in a while. He didn't necessarily need to go out for food; he had plenty of freshly cut gecko meat and heavily processed pre-war food to last him a month or so. He wanted something to keep him busy, nothing more and nothing less. As Salue ponders his plans for the day, a light force hits his back enough to make his ranger armor let out a small tink.
“Finally some action.” Salue thinks to himself, quickly whirling around on his heel and grabbing his revolver in one fluid motion, pointing the gun in the face of whoever thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with him. Instead he's met with the face of ED-E, the eyebot letting out distraught beeps as he quivered in the air from the sudden shock of having his master point a gun in his face.
“Oh shit! Sorry, ED-E!” Salue immediately drops the revolver to his side, ashamed of how scared he’d made the small bot. If he didn’t know any better, he swore he could hear ED-E let out a sigh of relief.
Once the gun is out of his face, the eyebot makes several sporadic beeps before righting himself. The beeps start up again, more concise. He was clearly trying to communicate, relay some sort of information.
“Found something? What was it?”
The bot beeps again, several metallic dings thrown in as well. It sounds urgent or at least as urgent as bleeps and bloops can sound to the untrained ear.
“Remnants power armor…” Salue repeats, mulling over the information in his thoughts. “Any idea where it’s at?”
ED-E makes one affirmative beep before he goes completely still. Salue receives his own confirmatory beep from his Pip-Boy and lifts his arm up to read the location. His eyes immediately grow as big as saucers, nothing but pure joy plastered across his face. Before he takes off down the nearest alley, Salue hugs the eyebot close to his chest, grin spread ear to ear. “Thank you ED-E, you magnificent bastard.”
--
Deathclaw Promontory. As the name suggested, deathclaws lived there, but the promontory was unique in that it was the largest nest of deathclaws in the whole of the Mojave. Not even Dead Wind Cavern came close to the shear number of deathclaws living in this alcove. Only the truly brave or stupid dared venture to the area. Salue didn’t know if he was brave or stupid, though it didn’t really matter in his mind. He was on a mission: get the Remnants power armor on the far side of the promontory and get out.
He’d brought a sniper rifle with him, the infamous 50 caliber. Normally Salue would feel better with his revolvers and regular old rifles, especially since the first time he fired the 50 cal the kickback nearly took out his front teeth, but it’s smarter to keep a good distance from deathclaws. Those chicken bone thin legs are an easy weak spot, but they carry the creatures far - far enough for a killing blow to land.
Taking careful, measured steps along the bank of the river, Salue kept the scope of the sniper constantly pressed against his eye. All it could take was one second of looking away to end up as mince meat. In the distance Salue can just barely make out the roar of a deathclaw. He presses the rest of his body all the way down from his crouching position until he can practically taste dirt in his mouth. The roars grow closer and closer, wailing in monstrous bleats that pier- wait a second...Was that human noises he heard? It was faint, but he could definitely hear shouting just over the ridge. What in the world…
Looking through the scope, Salue’s jaw nearly drops when he sees someone had beaten him to the punch - literally. Just above him, someone was fighting a deathclaw. The person appeared to be a man, ballistic fist on one of his hands. Salue watched as the man punched the deathclaw in the jaw, shattering it and causing the beast to recoil. Despite the injury, the deathclaw was royally pissed and coming at the stranger not long after with outstretched claws. It had murder in its eyes. Salue doesn't hesitate to put a bullet in its brain when he has a clear shot.
By the time Salue stumbles up from the river bank, he only sees the last puff of red mist spray from the neck that once was the head of the deathclaw. The stranger looks understandably bewildered at the sudden decapitation, the majority of the beasts blood having spilled on his armor. He stares for several more seconds in a daze before collecting himself and turning to Salue, both a look of suspicion and gratitude on his face. Salue isn't quite sure what to make of this person himself.
He's small, a good foot or so shorter than Salue. He has fluffy brown hair that is far too big for his own head, made even more evident by the spray of blood that had matted some of it to the side of his face. Salue, however, stops noticing other details when his eyes land on the stranger’s own. Just a few inches from his left eye, there’s a long gash where a stray claw had been. He’s lucky, Salue thinks. Had he gotten the full brunt of the attack, he likely wouldn’t have half his face. It still looks fairly nasty, though, puffed up and red. Salue can’t help but feel sorry for the kid.
Salue reaches into his pockets, retrieving a stimpack and vial of med-x to hand to the stranger. Initially, the stranger doesn’t take it. He doesn’t blame him for finding the whole thing suspicious. To alleviate the tension, Salue flashes a warm smile at him which seems to calm his nerves.
“So….” Salue says, breaking the silence. “What’s your name?”
The stranger holds the stimpack close to his face, judging where to stick it in to cause the least amount of pain before answering.
“Manny. You?”
“Salue.”
The look of confusion on Manny’s face says it all from the utterance of the name. Salue lets out a sigh.
“It’s Latin and Italian.” There’s an awkward pause. “It means good health and goodbye.”
Manny thinks about this for a only a moment before shrugging. “Okay.”
“What are you doing out here? I didn’t think anyone besides me would be visiting the promontory today.”
Manny puffs himself up triumphantly, a smirk spreading across his face as he spits out excess blood. Salue wonders whether Manny had intended to spit out the blood soon or if he did so now for dramatic effect.
“I was punching deathclaws in the face!” He exclaims, nothing but pride radiating from him.
“Yeah, I saw that, but was there any other reason besides that?”
Manny shakes his head. “No…..I wanted to do it just to say I’ve done it at least once. You see, my friend Cass said there used to be this guy in California who boxed with deathclaws. She said it was bullshit, but I told her I could totally punch a few deathclaws in the face. One thing lead to another a- …I'm blabbing, aren't I?”
It's subtle, but Salue can see Manny shrink ever so slightly. He replies with a, “Don't worry about it.” In response.
“Say, I'm the one answering all the questions. What are you doing here?”
“Looking for a suit of power armor on the other side of the promontory.” Salue replies plainly.
Manny looks back for a second, taking in the size of the promontory. “The other side, huh,” he says and pauses. “Well, looks like we got a lot of deathclaws to clear out.”
Salue shakes his head. “You’re injured. Unless you want a baby face full of claws, I’d recommend not doing that.”
“Ah, come on! It’s only a flesh wound!” Manny protests.
Before Salue gets a chance to reply, Manny runs straight into the promontory, ballistic fist at the ready with fierce determination in his eyes. Salue runs after, immediately skidding to a stop once he sees a deathclaw rushing Manny. Thankfully he remembers the sniper on his back, haphazardly ripping it off his back and aiming quick enough to shoot the thing in the head, Manny finishing it off with a punch to the throat for good measure.
“See? Now we only need to do that about thirty more times and we can make it!”
Salue pants, adrenaline driving his legs forward before he can process what exactly he’s doing. He nearly considers using jet to keep up with the kid, but decides against it when another deathclaw comes, and another, and another…
This pattern continues for some time; Manny running up and getting the deathclaw’s attention while Salue, panic stricken, shoots it in the head, Manny giving the final blow. Salue is sure he’s going to have a heart attack at some point. Thankfully it never comes and the deathclaws give out long before his rapidly beating heart. There at the edge of the promontory lies two dead prospectors, one clad in T51-D power armor, the other in the highly sought after Enclave Remnants power armor. Finally.
Manny stops just short of bumping into the dead bodies, giving them a thorough look before turning to Salue.
“This the armor you’re looking for?”
“Yeah.” Salue pants between shallow breaths.
The armor is in pretty good condition considering its owner was torn to shreds by deathclaws. Kneeling down and carefully prying the suit off of the dead body, a sudden pang hits Salue in the gut. It doesn't feel right that he take it, especially when he has his own set, and especially when Manny risked his life to help even if he was a little too eager to punch deathclaws. There's a full suit of T51. He doesn't think he has a full suit of that.
Giving the armor the once over for anymore damage, Salue deems it satisfactory, turning to Manny to give him the good news only to see him completely zoned out. Salue snaps his fingers in front of Manny’s face to get his attention. The kid shakes his head at the sound, his hair parting just enough for Salue to get a glimpse of the two scars on his forehead from two bullets - The scars are near identical to Salue’s. If he wasn't confident about his choice before, he sure is now.
“Here. My treat.”
Manny’s eyes take a second to adjust, but they go wide when he sees the Remnant armor thrust into his arms.
“...But you came here for this. It belongs to you now. I'm fi-”
“On one condition.” Salue interrupts.
He places the sniper in Manny’s arms as well, leaning down to pick up the party hat off the head of one of the prospector’s. He takes a rusty combat knife from his belt, smiling.
“I don't know if you've ever punched a Cazador, but I don't think anyone's stabbed one and lived. Until now.”
Salue takes off like a bullet back through the promontory now filled with deathclaw corpses. Manny follows behind as fast he can, struggling considerably with the armor and rifle in his arms, though there's a playful smirk on his face none the less.
What they smell like: hair gel and stale cigarette smoke
How they sleep (sleeping position, schedule, etc): on his stomach like a fuckin starfish
What music they enjoy: jazz
How much time they spend getting ready every morning: a long ass time, probably about 45 minutes at least
Their favorite thing to collect: awful patterned ties
Left or right-handed: right handed canonically
Religion (if any): not religious, but he likes the symbolism and imagery which is why he has la guadalupe on his gun
Favorite sport: killing mailmen
Favorite touristy thing to do when traveling (museums, local food, sightseeing, etc): sightseeing for Sure
Favorite kind of weather: he actually likes the hot weather in the desert
A weird/obscure fear they have: not really a weird fear but he’s afraid of bugs
The carnival/arcade game they always win without fail: the one game where you shot the target with a water gun to make the little thing on the pole go all the way 2 the top..... im sure im explaining this horribly
