Got this idea from when my courier wore the Riot Gear. Fnv companions react to the Courier, who they thought is a big scary guy, removing their helmet to reveal their actually a fem!courier underneath. Samus style. Like full voice modification only for them to have a sweet voice and also pretty hair.
For the record, pretty hair is very hard to pull off under a helmet
Mojave Express couriers on the job weren't a talkative bunch to begin with, given how loose lips might spell the doom of someone carrying items of value, but Courier Six had a reputation for being quiet even among other couriers. Their red-eyed ranger helmet remained silent from the start of a delivery to its finish, and even when they spent their caps on supplies and a room at the local bar, their verbal requests were minimal, distorted, and uttered only through the protective layer of a mask.
They were reliable with their deliveries though, so it quickly became a running joke around the Mojave after the business in Goodsprings that the silent, veiled walker of the wasteland had simply refused to have red in their ledger, and had risen from the grave accordingly. Word of their deeds spread fast, and their reputation only grew - tall as an old yucca, strong as a yao guai, with naught but vengeance and grit beneath their helmet. By the time they had made their way through the desert, passed the credit check onto the New Vegas Strip and located the front doors of the Tops, their companion had mostly accepted that this secrecy was permanent for some reason. In fact, they had been prepared to never know the face of the person they shared their road with.
This just made it all the more confusing when the courier stopped in front of the casino they'd set their sights on and pried their helmet off to reveal a wave of shining hair. They lowered their headgear and sighed, a delicate sound that would previously have been muffled by the carbon fiber and plastic, and turned to their stunned traveling companion. "Ready?"
Arcade Gannon: "Whoa, hang on." Arcade reached out as if to grab the courier's shoulder, then thought better of it halfway through the motion. The result was a limp grope that they eyed defensively, taking a half-step back from the researcher.
"S-sorry," Arcade stuttered, realizing just how stupid he looked in this moment. "I just- you weren't going to- why didn't you-?"
The courier realized the source of his flabbergasted expression and giggled. "Er- yeah, sorry, I wasn't thinking about- well he won't recognize me if I have this on."
They held up their helmet and tapped its dome with their thumbs. "Or maybe he will, I was wearing it before I ran into him and the Khans, too. But I'm not the only person wearing NCR armor in town, so..."
Arcade's impulse to be defensive of this person who had just revealed their appearance to him quickly suffocated. They might have a face that inspired protectiveness, but he'd been traveling with them long enough to know that they were more than capable of defending themselves. Still, it raised questions that he knew would eat at him if left alone too long.
Arcade jerked his head toward the Tops. "If there's still a bar in there after you're finished... can I buy you a drink? We should talk."
The courier raised an eyebrow, but they nodded. "Sure. Well... maybe not here, depending on how things go."
Craig Boone: Boone wasn't sure what they were expecting him to say. He'd followed them from Novac, he'd scouted ridges for them and dispatched enemies from hundreds of yards away, and not once had he needed a reminder to be alert and prepared. But as they gazed at him, right through his sunglasses and past the composure he wore to keep himself sane, something he thought he'd buried twinged.
He nodded. The courier searched his face for a moment longer, before returning the nod and facing the doors again. "Then let's go. I've got a bullet to repay."
Lily Bowen: "Dearie, you ought to brush your hair before we go into a fancy establishment," Lily suggested. The nightkin began rooting around in her bag. "Let grandma do it for you."
"Lily, I don't think we have time for-"
"Hush." Lily withdrew a gap-toothed comb that she'd held onto through the years - not for her own head, obviously, but because it reminded her of an underground life gone by - and patted the corner of a large, raised plant bed that was decorating the outside of the casino.
The courier sighed and sat, and Lily began to gingerly comb through their hair, avoiding the scars from their first run-in with the owner of the Tops and murmuring encouragements to the tougher tangles. The courier winced a bit and screwed their face up, but they sat as still as they could until their surrogate grandmother was finished.
Lily stowed the comb away and went searching through her pack again. "A mirror... supposed to be a mirror, along with..."
The courier caught her large hand and squeezed it. "I'm sure it looks great," they reassured her. "Benny probably won't even recognize me."
"He had better," Lily said, frowning.
Raul Alfonso Tejada: "Al rato," Raul replied, flabbergasted. "First, you tell me why you didn't take that off sooner. Confías en mí, Six?"
"More than most," the courier answered, after chewing on their lip for a few seconds. "I would've taken it off, but then after you told me about Rafaela... I thought it might..."
They trailed off, and Raul's heart sank. "You thought we might have a problem."
"Mmm-hm." The courier tucked the helmet under their arm. "Judging by your face, we do."
Raul didn't deny it. He'd seen the courier destroy raider camps, cut down assassins, work miracles for the wasteland and its people - but all he could see now, looking at them, was his little sister and the ugly fate she had met so long ago.
The courier drew their weapon. Raul's hand flashed out and grabbed it, catching their fingers in his grip as well. "I've... I've got your back, boss, but are you sure-"
The courier shrugged his hand away. "Just trust me, okay? I'm not... I know what I'm doing. What I'm about to do."
They turned forcefully and yanked open the door to the casino before Raul could argue. All the old ghoul could do was follow them, muttering "Ojalá," under his breath.
Rose of Sharon Cassidy: "Holy mother of mole rats," Cass yelped, nearly dropping her shotgun in surprise. "You can't just toss a revelation like that on the pavement and expect me to not be rattled, Six!"
"Save it for dinner at the Gourmand, afterwards," the courier joked. "You shoot well enough when you're drunk, I'm sure you can handle an earth-shattering revelation just fine."
"Oh, are you taking me to dinner after this, gorgeous?" Cass grinned. "We might not fit the dress code, unless you plan to pinch that dandy's suit before we pull the fire alarm."
The courier made a face. "No suit. If I had to scrape together 2,000 caps just to make it into this circus, I can afford something new for both of us, plus dinner."
Cass fluttered a hand playfully against her chest. "For little old me? That's just too much, Six, you worked hard for that money. What's say we just rob the guy you're about to shoot and use his caps instead?"
The courier laughed and did a little bow. "A capital idea, my fair lady. Shall we?"
"We shall." Cass gave a wobbly curtsy and linked elbows with them. "And for the record, I am no lady."
Veronica Santangelo: Veronica whistled long and low, taking in the courier's pretty face. The courier blushed and dipped their head self-consciously, causing the Scribe to backtrack in her appreciation. "I mean- I mean, I didn't mean- just that I- just wow, Six."
"'Wow' as in 'way to spring this on me last minute', or 'wow' as in... wow?" the courier asked.
"Both. Mostly the second." Veronica looked them up and down appreciatively. "I totally get it, there are advantages to going around with your face hidden, but god, the wasteland's missing out when it comes to you."
"Oh, stop it."
"Oh no, you opened this can of Cram, Six. Now all I'm going to be thinking about for the next month is how everyone out there sees a stoic warrior of vengeance when you roll into town, but underneath your getup you're a sweet little cinnamon roll with the face of an angel."
"I can be both," the courier chided her gently. They tucked the helmet under their arm and turned back toward the doors of the Tops. "Both warrior and cinnamon roll. Whichever one gets me where I need to go."
"A tall cinnamon roll," Veronica murmured appreciatively, falling into step behind them.
ED-E: ED-E blipped its agreement and shook its chassis to show excitement. The courier nodded and took a deep breath, ignoring the stares of passersby who were suddenly walking through the Strip at much slower paces. "I don't know how he's going to react, but just in case he leads with that pistol of his, cover me," they said.
ED-E cooed down at the bright pair of eyes that had been hidden behind the helmet until this point. Its initial scans of the courier back in the Primm outpost had told the eyebot everything it needed to know, and it didn't find their decision to hide their face all that unreasonable. After all, it knew a thing or two about catching a bullet in its circuitry. They both did.
"Thanks, ED-E," the courier said with a smile. "Let's do this."
Rex: Rex barked and pitched forward into a playful stance, splaying out one organic paw and one cybernetic paw on the sidewalk. The courier chuckled and crouched down to scratch behind his ears. "I know, I know, you love it when people take their hats off. Have you been here before? Did the King take you, at some point? I could use a guide, if we have to beat a hasty retreat."
Rex sniffed the ground a bit before looking up at them with a lolling tongue. The courier nodded and straightened up. "Alright, then. Better get moving, before any Chairmen manage to warn the boss that I'm coming."
I just realized I haven’t posted any links to my fics in ages. I have been writing whoops.
So here’s the link to my Boone X Courier fic, Misery Loves Company.
Latest chapter is the aftermath of the chapter before, which is when they finally fuckin’ get down and dirty and DOINK. More fluff than a fucking marshmallow factory, hope y’all like it!
May I suggest you Benny/Courier with 21? :) (P.S. thank you again for that Benny-senpai drawing sometimes I just stare at it in admiration because it's. Perfect. Art.)
(I’ll use my Courier, Carmen. Also no problem, I honestly saw your last message and I really appreciated it, but I couldn’t reply to it at the time, and eventually enough time passed that I thought it’d be weird to do it now………. I’m an awkward mess, sorry!!!!)
21. things you said when we were on top of the world
“Benny baby, I love you, but I don’t like you.”
The words are like a switchblade to his gut. He looks up at the pretty face he put a bullet through and is mesmerized by the absolute honesty he finds there.
He’s suddenly reminded of the little kitty cat with sharp claws and soul piercing eyes that would stand on the corners of what would be Freeside, using clever words to charm people out of their caps. How could he not fall for a girl that platinum? They were a little younger, a little less experienced, a little cruder and crass, but she was a number he could never forget. And with alluring lips and voice, she conned him out of good money and ditched that rat shack town before Mr. House turned it into an oasis.
She made something of a legacy for herself. People call her lots of things. “Little Black Widow”, “The Tramp of Freeside”, but the one he remembers the most was “Queen of the Streets”.
And he thinks she is as she sits on his lap, and her hand scrapes up his back and wraps around his neck. She has always been a queen. A queen that has never needed nor wanted a king.
fandom: Fallout: New Vegas
summary: The Courier and Cass meet for the first time at the bar. pairing: hinted fem!Courier/Cass
Second: she was fucking wasted.
Which made her the exact type of girl she would go for after tracking through the Mojave all day long only to start shooting goddamn giant ends at nightfall.
(WHY was everyone asking her to clean up their messes anyway? She was a goddamn courier, not a merc.)
She watched her for a few more minutes, then, as she ordered her next drink, she slipped on the stool next to here.
"Hey there, gorgeous."
"Fuck off."
Ouch. Harsh. "...You know, for such a pretty woman, you aren't really nice."
She looked at her. "...Well, you are obviously as annoying as you seem."
That was probably intended to be a good comeback, but her slurring made it seem more hilarious than insulting.
Karin raised a brow. "You are pretty drunk, aren't ya."
"Why, thanks for mentioning it, wouldn't have noticed it myself." She sighed and stared straight ahead. "Not drunk enough, though."
"Ah, and why's that?"
"What do you care, huh?" She clared at her. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Maybe I'm just a nice stranger who likes to cheer up pretty girls? Or I'm a mad woman in which case you probably should be a bit friendlier unless I snap and start shooting everyone in here." The other girl obviously didn't think that to be funny. "Okay, no, enough joking for now, then, huh? I'm Karin and I'm a Courier. Unemployed at the moment though."
"Unemployed, huh. And why's that?"
"Now, to tell you that, I'm not drunk enough."
"Well, then I guess we don't have anything to talk about."
Karin smiled at her and leant ver the bar. "Now, don't be like that. How about I buy you another drink and then you tell me what makes you so sad."
The other one seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "...That would cost you more than just one drink."
Karin shrugged. "Fine by me."
...
"Yeah, and that's basically it."
"Mh." Karin stared at the bottom of her own almost empty glass. "Sounds pretty fucked up if you ask me."
"You don't say."
Karin sighed dramatically. "And here I thought maybe I could deliver something for you and get some money outta it."
The other girl frowned at her. "Yes, I'm sure that's what you had in mind."
She was getting harder to understand, Karin noticed. Maybe it was time to leave her alone for the night.
"Well, thanks for talking."
"Thanks for the drinks.."
Karin shrugged it off. "You could repay me with your name, though."
She started twirling her glass around. "Cass. Well, anyway, if you're looking a job you should go meet up with the Crimson Caravan up south. They'll probably be more helpful than me."
"Yeah." She walked towards the door, only stopping for a moment. "I might just do that."
Then she was out of the door, only leaving a sent of alcohol and earth behind. "I'll be back, Cass."
