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Post by aardvarklord on Feb 11, 2015 23:04:27 GMT -5
"Pleasure." Truth be told Rachel had almost avoided doing the handshake, though that had been less an issue of hygiene and more a matter of ghouls just not feeling all that pleasant to the touch. That said though, she knew that the fellow would probably appreciate the courtesy; often times the ghouls she met were shocked when she paid their condition little attention. Though her mentality was more that if you could poke gentle fun at something then you were truly tolerant... but that was assuming you knew the person. It was a bit sad to hear that things really hadn't changed all that much over the centuries, but Rachel wasn't shocked. What she'd seen told her that humanity was, at its core, a selfish creature without interest in the future. She was guilty of this, but she liked to think that if someone truly thought that they could repair the world then she would be willing to assist--as it was she was probably indirectly helping just by making sure supplies got to their destination unmolested.
She had just been getting ready to mention another subject--nothing important mind--when the other fellow poked in with his query on why they were interested in Goodsprings. While the old man seemed to resent prying, she just scoffed and took another gulp of water, smirking the whole time. If he was trying to be subtle, he certainly wasn't very good at it. She too knew that giving people private information wasn't the best of policies--fortunately what private information she had was pretty much useless to anyone other than rivals to the Omertas, and even then only marginal. Continuing to lean over the counter, she responded to the man with a grin, "I go where the caps take me, and the caps take me north." At this point she pulled out a bottlecap from inside her jacket and looked at it like a puppy, "Isn't that right little buddy?"
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Post by PoshTheBean on Feb 12, 2015 10:41:02 GMT -5
Something bad may happen if Vitsel continues to ask questions. Plus, the girl making that comment could sound suspicious. Otherwise she's just making a remark. "Go where the caps go huh?" Vitsel got up and paid the caps for the food. He didn't finish, but he didn't mind. He grabbed the water and left the brahmin steak on the plate. "It's not everyday Goodsprings will have a job. Now I know where I'm headed." Vitsel quickly picked and equipped his gear. "I'd rather go to a crap town then stay here. Now that's my personal business." He walked out of the barrack without looking back at the two. He doesn't know if the two would go after him, that's why he's gonna stay outside for a bit. "The ghoul may want to keep me from going to Goodsprings" Vitsel thought to himself. "If he pulls a gun out on me, then the guards will surely do something." Vitsel knew that if he got killed, and a guard searches him before punishing the ghoul, the ghoul will go free. A remnant like him is meant to be hunted down by the NCR.
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Jackie
Child
Professional lazy grump.
Posts: 248 Likes: 23 
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Post by Jackie on Feb 12, 2015 15:15:44 GMT -5
This man didn't strike John as being particularly bright, the little hint Rachel had dropped, indicating the caps were with the caravans, had completely soared over his head. More than likely, there wasn't any paying work in Goodsprings, a general store and a bar were really the only two businesses of note out there that John could remember. The ghoul would keep all this to himself however, if the man wished to waste his time heading out that way, that was his business, not John's. The ghoul only hoped he wouldn't have to see the odd human again, whether it be on the road or at the town itself. The old man would watch quietly as the human payed for his mostly uneaten meal and eventually left. "No offense." John would start as his gaze shifted back to Rachel. "But you smoothskins really weird me out sometimes." This would be accompanied with a teasing smirk on his part, even if the statement itself was true for the most part.
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Post by aardvarklord on Feb 12, 2015 16:31:49 GMT -5
Rachel had to try very hard to keep from laughing at the man's mistaken understanding of what she'd said. To her credit, she did a good job of that, saying to him with a smile, "Good luck," giving him a relaxed wave as he left... then the moment the door closed she promptly snorted and started laughing softly, teeth showing and everything. He really thought that Goodsprings had anything of actual worth? That town's only use was as a supply stop on the way up to Vegas and MAYBE as a place to sell some very specific goods. That was it. But hey, if he wanted to waste his time, she wasn't about to stop him. Still snickering, she would look up as John made his comment to her, and she would immediately chuckle again and nod agreeably, "I'm a 'smoothskin' and I think we're weird." Shaking her head and trying to regain her composure, she would add with a smirk, "I think humankind is just brain damaged as a feature." Herself included there, mind, but it was still a funny thought.
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Post by PoshTheBean on Feb 12, 2015 17:58:38 GMT -5
Vitsel started walking away from the Mojave Outpost, but wasn't heading north. He was heading east. "I need to start camping instead of staying in NCR territory. If somebody searched my bag then I would have been screwed." Goodsprings isn't the only crap town out there. He was headed for Nipton. Vitsel still thinks that something was going on at Goodsprings. If there was something going on there, people should know about it. He didn't even think about if the girl was escorting anybody. To him, Goodsprings is currently dangerous. It's probably just paranoia. Vitsel has only been traveling the waste for around 6 years. He's not used to everything. To some people that may be a lot, but compare it to other wastelanders who spent their whole lives, Vitel's experience is almost nothing. "Nipton probably isn't a town anymore. Just a graveyard. I'd rather risk that then staying at the outpost. Since it may be a graveyard, I could find loot there."
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Jackie
Child
Professional lazy grump.
Posts: 248 Likes: 23
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Post by Jackie on Feb 13, 2015 14:04:32 GMT -5
John was beginning to like this woman, unlike a lot of humans he had the 'pleasure' of conversing with, Rachel had a sense of humor, and could handle a bit of teasing. He also enjoyed how she could return it, not to mention she seemed pretty down to earth and didn't act like she had a stick crammed in her ass. Her follow up comment about humanity being brain dead would get a chuckle from the old ghoul. "Well, as a sentient zombie, I can't rightly condemn you for it, would be the pot calling the kettle black as it were." Despite enjoying the conversation thus far, John felt the road calling to him, if he wanted to reach Goodsprings by nightfall, he'd need to get moving. "Well it was nice meeting you Rachel, but it's time I moved on. Perhaps I'll see you in Goodsprings, either way, take care of yourself out there kiddo." With that, and a final small smile, John would raise from his seat and gather up his gear before making for the door. Once outside, John would pause long enough to dig a cigarette out of the pack in his inner coat pocket. After lighting it, the ghoul would take a long drag on it before starting off towards the two large statues, as well as the downgrade past them.
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Post by Endicott on Feb 13, 2015 18:27:15 GMT -5
The trip was long and hard, but Gerald was getting paid a lot of caps for this trip. The fire ants had killed one of the other guards and the raiders had broken one of the Brahmin's legs further up the road, but Gerald had the benefit of being protected by some good old-fashioned leather armour (old being the operative word here...). Marcelene's death and the horrors of Anchorage had scarred him too much for these events to be more than minor annoyances, but in saying this it is admitting he is still haunted constantly by both of the former... but, jet always helped clear the mind, right?
Gerald reached into his bag as they began the two giant statues of the Mojave Outpost, the ugly scrap-metal giants baking in the hot sun. From within he procured two jet inhalers; ghouls didn't get much of a hit off of jet, so he had to use two to feel the effects. Cautiously, he placed one in his mouth and inhaled deeply, and then the other immediately after. The orange smog turned to luscious blue, and the dirtied desert road turned bright grey. To say the least, Gerald was higher than a kite. Jet always made him irritable, however, and he seemed to become paranoid in his movements, his gaze shifting faster than the gauge on a geiger counter.
As he they made their way into the compound, he wasn't looking where he was going, huffing the air like a dog in heat and twisting like Chubby Checker. In his mad delirium, he bumped into someone, another ghoul it seemed. Gerald flailed his Combat Shotgun around wildly, the shock mixed with the increased BPM caused by the jet made his race.
"Who are you?! Waddaya' want?! Cancha' see I'm walkin' here, pal?! Huh?! You tryna' take me out?!", Gerald spewed at an almost inaudible speed.
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Post by aardvarklord on Feb 13, 2015 23:07:32 GMT -5
Rachel would snicker at the man's teasing, happy to hear that even after all these years the poor fellow at least had some humanity left in him. 'Zombie' or not, she knew that ghouls got a lot of undeserved flack, very little of which she felt was actually deserved; as far as she was concerned ghouls were just unfortunate humans. Shame about the ferals though, at least the others kept their minds. Her gaze would turn up at his farewell, to which she would give him a nod and tip a non-existent hat. Shame to see the old timer go, she enjoyed their chat, but such was the nature of their jobs and it wasn't like she expected him to avoid his own work to kill time with a stranger. "Thanks. My 'van will likely be taking off soon too. If I don't see you, safe travels and rich harvest to ya, old man." At this point, she would go about downing the last of her water, getting up and stretching with a few soft cracks.
However, as she walked out into the street, still stretching and just enjoying the ever so slight buzz of her whiskey, she caught an unpleasantly familiar scent. Her entire face seemed to scrunch up as memories of the highs she experienced briefly flashed through her mind and she looked around for the source of that horribly tantalizing smell that was Jet. Indeed she would spot it, a ghoul whom had just collided with Johnathan, clearly well into a high and jumpy enough to be classified as a frog. Wincing at the man holding poor John up at gunpoint, she slowly began moving into a good vantage point, hand on her pistol the whole while, not wanting to risk shooting John but far less willing to let this druggie shoot up the compound because the giant purple deathclaw in bunny pajamas told him to.
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Jackie
Child
Professional lazy grump.
Posts: 248 Likes: 23
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Post by Jackie on Feb 14, 2015 22:30:15 GMT -5
(Not sure if Bean's last post was meant to be his character's exit or not, so I'll go ahead and post. If it wasn't Bean, you can hop back into the rotation at any point.)
John had paused in the shadow of one of the giant statues to re-tie one of his bootlaces, only to be bumped into moments after standing back up straight. The ghoul would whirl around, the smell of jet striking his nose slits as his eyes met those of a fellow ghoul. Reflexively, John's hand would go to grip the handle of the .45 holstered on his hip, though he wouldn't pull it just yet. Instead, his left hand would reach out to grab the barrel of the man's shotgun, while the grip was firm, he'd make no attempts to yank it from the man's grasp, rather he'd just try to keep it pointed away from him, though if the other ghoul wanted to, he likely could have freed the weapon without much effort. "Whoa, easy there buddy, no need to get antsy. I just wasn't paying attention" John's tone remained calm as he spoke, taking the blame for the collision even though it wasn't his fault, he'd dealt with addicts before unfortunately, and he knew just how damn erratic they could be. What surprised him most was that his fellow ghoul's drug of choice was Jet, the stuff didn't do much for them, most had to take 2 or 3 hits to get the desired effect, turned into an expensive hobby to say the least. "No one is trying to take anybody out, but keep waving that weapon of yours around and those troopers might think about it." John honestly wished he was exaggerating, but as ghoul's they were generally automatically more likely to eat a bullet for disturbing the peace than humans, which may have instead received jail time and a fine. The NCR were a bit more tolerant than say the Brotherhood, but still...
Provided the other ghoul relaxed a bit, or as much as someone fucked up on Jet could relax, John would release his grip on the man's weapon (unless it had been ripped out of his hand prior), as well as his grip on his own pistol, a show of good faith one could call it, as he clearly didn't want any trouble if he could avoid it.
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Post by Endicott on Feb 20, 2015 18:59:51 GMT -5
"Whoa, easy there buddy, no need to get antsy. I just wasn't paying attention. No one is trying to take anybody out, but keep waving that weapon of yours around and those troopers might think about it."
Gerald was still concentrating his aim at the other ghoul, his jet-fueled eyes seeming wider and more expansive the the Mojave at this moment, and their zombie-white film coverings made this all the more disturbing. As his breathing seemed to slow down, his paranoia seemed to ease and he lowered the gun. In order to help kill the buzz he was feeling, he fired a few rounds right up into the air, screaming unintelligible babble while doing so.
"Woooooh! Fuck you, commies! Fuck you, Khans! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck yooooooooooooooooooooooou!"
The shotgun almost took on the role of a dress cane as he began dancing around while screaming this nonsense, but after a few minutes and long after the caravan had moved on up without him, he was tired out. The shotgun dropped to the floor with a clank and Gerald turned back to the other ghoul, putting on a friendly grin... or at least what he considered friendly.
"Ey', I'm sorry, man. Jet; makes me all fucked, y'know? Took some strong stuff!"
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Post by aardvarklord on Feb 24, 2015 15:12:14 GMT -5
Rachel would continue to watch the situation cautiously, the shape of her pistol's grip feeling pretty good right about now. It was good to see that John was both keeping calm and preparing for the worst, but even then there was only so much that he could do with someone who was quite clearly high on something. The moment the man fired off his shots into the air Rachel winced and looked behind her to check the troops, and sure enough one of the NCR grunts were already taking aim, saying something to someone, probably looking for something more precise than the usual assault rifle. Ignoring the ringing in her ears, she looked back and was grateful to see the shotgun drop after he did that bizarre little dance (which she would've found hilarious if he didn't have a gun).
Coming forward while the two met, she would approach the ghouls slowly, hands forward and clearly visible while commenting to the fellow, "Easy there, might want to lay off the trigger." Assuming she could get close enough without eliciting a reaction, she would step towards the shotgun and kick it far enough away that he couldn't just idly pick it up. "Nothing wrong with Jet, but my god, you should've waited till you were clear of people, bud. You ghouls have enough problems as is."
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Jackie
Child
Professional lazy grump.
Posts: 248 Likes: 23
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Post by Jackie on Feb 25, 2015 19:10:09 GMT -5
John would be visibly relieved when the other ghoul relaxed a little, pointing his shotgun elsewhere away from John. Of course when he fired several shells needless into the air, John's head would swivel back towards the outpost. Sure enough, a couple of the troopers were pointing their weapons in the the ghouls direction, and the other ghoul's little dance and yelling probably only agitated them more. Fortunately, the jet-fueled man would promptly drop the weapon after getting it out of his system. While he hadn't caught most of what his fellow ghoul had said, John had caught the word 'commies' in their, leading him to believe the man was pre-war like himself. John was generally always happy to meet other pre-war ghouls, but the state this one was in was just goddamn depressing. On that same note however, John couldn't rightly look down on the man for using drugs to cope with his life. He would have been lying if he said he'd not spent more than a few booze filled days and nights contemplating suicide in the past. Somehow he'd coped with all the horror and pain he'd experienced in his life however, but his fair share of demons had come along with him.
"Yeah I can tell." John would reply with a bit of a smirk to his fellow ghoul as far as 'Jet fucking him up.' was concerned. Before he could say anything more however, the red-head from early sauntered up and scooted the dropped shotgun out of the other ghoul's reach. John would flash Rachel an appreciative smile and nod before shifting his gaze back to the other ghoul. "Lord knows we don't need any more problems eh pal?" John would go on to say with a smile, trying to keep the mood light and the other ghoul talking. "You pre-war?"
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Post by Endicott on Mar 7, 2015 11:54:50 GMT -5
Gerald blinked heavily a few times as the euphoria took over from the delirium, but seemed coherent at least. The other ghoul was trying to make conversation and Gerald felt he owed him that at least.
"Lord knows we don't need any more problems eh pal?"
Gerald forced out a cynical laugh, the ghoul's face seeming to fade in clarity every few seconds due to the jet's effects, but he couldn't give a fuck seeing as he felt so high.
"Guess.. not."
For a brief moment he appeared to stumble backwards as he reached for his shotgun, holding it rather lazily in one hand with the barrel facing the floor. John still seemed, all the while, to be a necrotic blur on the horizon...
"You pre-war?"
"As pre-war as they come, bud..."
And with that, he began to slur off. The wide eyes he had a moment ago faded shut and his shotgun tumbled down the concrete as it slipped from his grasp. The old ghoul stumbled to the side and collapsed in euphoria... this couldn't of been regular jet, since this felt more like med-x than jet. He writhed and mumbled, only one phrase being audible.
"Bad... jet..."
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Jackie
Child
Professional lazy grump.
Posts: 248 Likes: 23
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Post by Jackie on Mar 14, 2015 7:19:33 GMT -5
(Aardvark and I are swapping spots in the rotation.)
John was far from pleased when the other ghoul managed to get his weapon back, fortunately it seemed his little outburst had exhausted his previous aggression, and the weapon remained pointed at the floor whilst they talked. That was if you could call it 'talking' anyways, the other ghoul wasn't exactly the most coherent guy at this time. Sure enough, his condition would only go down hill from there, the other ghouls eyes closing as he began to stumble to the side. John would of course reach out to try and catch him, but he wasn't quick enough on his feet and would do little more than soften his fall a bit.
While his fellow ghoul laid upon the ground, John would sigh heavily and rub at the corners of his eyes. "All of it's bad you fool..." He'd mutter under his breath as he looked down upon the pitiful sight. Had the man been a human, John would have been content to just leave him there to sleep it off or whatever, but being pre-war himself made John much more inclined to at least drag him inside and get him squared away so he was at least somewhat comfortable and not in as big a danger to get robbed.
And John would go about doing just that, heading around to pick the other ghoul up by pulling an arm over his own shoulders. Whilst going about this, he'd glance over at Rachel. "I don't suppose that you'd be willing to grab his weapon and help me drag him inside?" If she didn't, John honestly wouldn't have blamed her in the slightest, and would go about the task himself.
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Post by aardvarklord on Mar 28, 2015 22:56:00 GMT -5
God, it was like looking in a mirror to a past self... a very... very... dirty, rotting, gender-swapped mirror. She'd seen far too many people this incoherent, though she had to admit that it being a ghoul was a new one on her--he must've hit the jet HARD. She remained on hand to try and make sure that all went well, her eyes glancing back to the NCR fellows in the background, no longer aggressive but definitely alerted just in case the fellow went on another shouting match. Hearing that both of these ghouls were pre-war was interesting--she knew John was, but the odds of two of these ancient men running into each other was slim to say the least.
She was privately kicking herself for not stopping the guy from grabbing his gun, but at least he remained calm afterwards. And then he fell over, and she was a little too far away to help, and so could only watch helplessly as the guy collapsed in a heap. Sighing and shaking her head in unison with John, she pinched her eyes trying not to think about her own time with the drug. The weird thing was that, as right as John was about it being bad, Rachel couldn't help but miss it a little, the euphoria was almost worth the come-down. Almost. Maybe.
When she re-opened her eyes, she too hit on the same thought that John was in; this fellow would get robbed if he just slept things off here. Granted, she didn't have any stake in the guy, but it just seemed common courtesy... well not-so-common anymore. To John's request, she gladly nodded and lightly picked up the man's gun and said lightly, "O'course." With the shotgun in her left hand, she got on the drowsy ghoul's left side and cooperated with John to sling the fellow's arms over their shoulders. "Jeeze... I would've thought you bastards were lighter... guy feels like he's carrying a sack of potatoes." Scoffing to herself, she looked over at Gerald with a light smirk, "You're not so far gone you'd shit yourself, are you?"
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