#emmet just needs to be put through a lot to reach his limit

[sa1808fi]

I sent it in tags already but I also wanna send it as an ask:

5 years is honestly a crazy amount of time if you pull in real world logic. In a lot of medias you have characters stay trapped for 30 or thousands of years in prison, and while it's an impressive amount of time it's not that easy to sympathize with - unless you're a convict ig 😭

5 years is a lot easier to visualize, though, a lot easier to relate to and sympathize with. No angst for the sake of angst. A realistic, 4-5 time frame that would make sense for a toy to go missing in.

Idk about anyone else, but my views on people or troubling situations can change in the span of DAYS, weeks or months at best.

So the fact it took two entire years for Emmet to even START breaking is truly a testament to how strong his will is, and just how much pressure from all sides it takes to shatter it. Constant "proof" that his friends never cared about him right in his line of sight, and yet he remains optimistic for over 730 days. Seven hundred and thirty days of holding onto hope. Some would call that naive. I think it's inspiring.

...it really sounds like a lot when you put in that perspective, huh? And that's only year two. Out of five.

No wonder Rex is the way he is. He stops being so violently out of character to Emmet once you put it into perspective just how much it took to drag him down to this point

Probably around 60 months, 260 weeks 1,826 days, 43800 hours, 2628000 minutes, and 157788000 seconds.

Long time to be paralysed and stuck with your own thoughts, watching as the people you called friends move on without a second thought.

It's just angst.

That's the whole thing about those 5 years, it's just Emmet suffering.

Compared to tons of other media where characters are trapped for a long time by themselves, it is pretty common for them to go insane or go on a whole villain arc as revenge to the people who wronged them.

On some occasions, said characters come out the 'same', but that should be taken with a grain of salt, since those times a lot of what was their life has been torn away, and they have to help another group of people.

The thing is, is that these characters that are trapped are usually able to do something while trapped. It really the isolation that’s a common appearance between them.

Emmet had a chance to watch the world move on. He wasn’t able to do anything during those 5 years but watch and think.

I say he starts to break after 2 years because while he’s able to stay optimistic through the first stretch of isolation, the reality of the situation eats away at him.

Some people might say "Oh that's not the worst, apocalypseburg lasted 5 years as well." Which... okay it did last 5 years too, but all of those things that happened over those 5 years also transferred to the years in undar.

Emmet finally breaking and deciding to change his whole personality and sense of self was the after-effect of his treatment in the first movie, apocalypseburg, and undar.

It wasn't just Undar that broke him. Everything before that piled ontop of him until that one event finally made him snap.

I guess at the end of the day that's all he really is. A man. One that has gone though way too much and finally cracked under all the pressure.

Emmet is an individual that possesses a lot of willpower to be able to keep up his cheeriness for most of his life, especially in the face of dangerous or depressing situations that would otherwise end with other people giving up.

But that cheeriness was also making him push down any negative feelings he had. Emmet is the reliable ray of sunshine in everyone's eyes, he had to ignore all the hateful comments to keep up that happiness.

[mynamesaplant]

The Headspace that is Grief (Ch. 1)

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Summary: The grieving process is different for everyone, Emmet and Olivia know that first hand but they just don't know it yet. Sometimes it takes another person experiencing the same things as you to move through those feelings. Together, they learn and grow with their grief and each other.

In this chapter: Olivia meets her new tenant

Notes: You can tell I was in the midst of one of my finance classes in these first few paragraphs. This was not beta read - so if there are spelling or grammatical errors, let me know. This was sort of an experimental fic for me, I find Emmet hard to write for, and I cannot confidently say that I nailed his characterization. Regardless, I hope you enjoy!~

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Olivia had a pair of bud shears and a bead of sweat trickling down her face. She really didn't want to touch this Roseli sapling just yet, but the sapling was flowering far too early with so few leaves.

"Come on, buddy. You need more energy before you try to flower."

The sapling did not respond, and Olivia huffed indignantly. This happened all the time with her Roseli trees - with all Roseli trees, honestly. They were tough to grow because they required near constant maintenance and most laymen just didn't have the patience for it. The process of removing all the buds was slow, but the good thing about all the flower buds was that they made a pretty good tea when brewed. Her task took more than thirty minutes for her three trees, but every bud was removed, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she trudged back toward the greenhouse.

Within the next month, her crop would be coming in. About 70% of her stock was to be sold to bakeries that made Poffin, flower shops, and some specialty item shops up in the Frontier. About 9% was going to people like Palmer, who valued the quality of Olivia's berries and wanted them directly from the source, these were usually elite trainers who wanted an edge above the rest. Those trainers usually heard about her through the grapevine, and that her stock was extremely limited, so she had to make slots for private customers. 6% was saved, either for selling as seeds to interested gardeners or for herself, split evenly at about 3%. The last 15% was to be sold locally to anyone who came to Cedaridge, with about 1% of that being unusable for various reasons.

Olivia was going to be busy. She still had to go buy some more fertilizer, pay her bills, and check her orders because she needed to be careful the number didn't go over her projections. If there were more berries than anticipated, she would reach out to the customer to see if they were still interested, but Olivia had this down to a science and usually wasn't wrong.

She cleaned and put away her tools, her attention moving toward the house where she could start her other tasks. Olivia turned and saw a very tall man standing just outside the door to her greenhouse, his hand outstretched like he had intended to knock.

Without thinking, Olivia grabbed her pruning shears and wielded them in one hand, taking a few steps back. The man looked startled and also took a step away, an uneasy smile on his face as he lifted his hands.

"Ah - I did not mean to startle you."

He apologized, his wide eyes flicking to the shears like he was concerned he was actually going to get attacked with them.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Olivia snapped, still on the defensive, as she noticed a lot of Pokéballs on his hips, carefully concealed by a long white and red striped coat. He followed her gaze and quickly said,

"This is 73 Wisteria Lane, correct? There is a room vacancy here, yes?"

Olivia paused, lowering the shears slightly and appraising him more closely. Normally it was archeologists, fossil hunters, and professors who were looking for places to stay on Mount Coronet - this guy didn't look like any of those things. She squinted at him, and he blinked back, his smile settling into something of a grimace as Olivia stepped out of the greenhouse and looked him over closely.

He was right around Gina's height, which meant she had to look up at him and he had to look down his nose at her, almost going cross eyed in the process. She could see just how exhausted this man looked up close. The bag under his eyes were about as gray as those eyes and his features looked gaunt, his hair beneath his cap disheveled like he hadn't been bothering with it. His coat gave the illusion that he was a big man, but Olivia could see that he looked painfully skinny. The belt holding too many Poké balls was sinched tight with frayed holes punched into the leather long after the belt had been manufactured.

"Yes." She replied tentatively, looking up at him and holding his gaze. It seemed like it was taking all his effort to keep eye contact. "You're interested in the room?"

"I am. Yep."

He breathed a sigh of relief that she finally understood, and she returned her shears back to their spot in the greenhouse before shutting the door.

"Come on."

She said, striding past him to her back door, only for it to burst open. Infernape was barreling out, eyes narrowed, and teeth bared at the stranger, but Olivia swiftly stepped before the man and put her hands on her hips.

"Excuse you."

She said sharply, the Fire type's eyes went wide and he dug his heels in, screeching to a halt. Behind her, she heard the man hum as if intrigued, leaning around her to study her Pokémon. Infernape gave him a squinty side-eye and shuffled a step in the opposite direction. Olivia also heard the sound of a Poké ball minimizing and the rustle of his coat, but she didn't comment on that.

"Sorry, he's not usually like that. He'll get used to you... Er, I didn't catch your name."

She turned to look at him, eyebrows raised in question, and he stood up straighter, mouth curving in a proud grin.

"I am Emmet. Emmet Porter."

"Okay, Mr. Porter. I'm Olivia. I can show you the room and you can decide if it's to your-"

He raised his hand to interrupt her.

"Unnecessary. I just have three questions."

"Oh... kay?"

Olivia stopped, giving him the benefit of turning around fully. He ticked each item off with his fingers.

"How is the internet access? Do you have any objections for me bringing a few things here and if I make a few cosmetic alterations?" Olivia looked at him for a long moment, trying to decipher what a few meant before she just asked him. "Oh, nothing too unrealistic..." He replied, offering a little shrug to accompany the cryptic answer.

"We'll see." Olivia answered noncommittally. "Let me show you the room."

Mr. Emmet didn't have any objections to the lodging, with the exception of running a gloved finger through the layer of dust on the dresser. She apologized and said she would have it cleaned up as soon as possible.

"Do not apologize." He assured her, tugging his gloves on tighter and asking for some cleaning supplies. "Leave it to me. I would like to be situated here as soon as possible."

"Er..." Olivia didn't know how to object; she honestly hadn't expected anyone to fill the space again and now she had Mr. Emmet who wanted to move in at this very instant. "H-How many Pokémon do you have, Mr. Emmet?"

That made him pause, Olivia could see tugging his coat a little tighter around him. He cleared his throat self-consciously and croaked out a number,

"Twelve."

"Tw-Twelve!"

It was almost a shriek and Infernape flinched beside her.

"Ah, no-no, Miss Olivia. I promise, they are verrrry well-mannered. Yup. Verrrrry well-mannered."

Twelve Pokémon? She could maybe host a full team depending on the Pokémon, but twelve?

"No way! Do you know how many mouths that is to feed?"

Mr. Emmet was rubbing his neck and looking at the ceiling as if trying to come up with a solution, a pinched expression on his face.

"I will double your asking price."

"What?"

"I must keep them with me. It... It is verrrrry important to me."

He looked back down with her with pleading eyes, just like Chimchar used to do and she looked away. She thought she was immune to this charm. He looked as if he was going to get down on his knees and beg, but Olivia quickly stammered out,

"I-I want to see them all before I decide anything."

He brightened and brought his fingers to his mouth, whistling sharply, and he was almost entirely consumed by light. Infernape growled a little beside her and she even heard a small squeak from the door at all the hubbub in the master bedroom.

The room was jam-packed with Pokémon big and small, so much so that it made Olivia stumble backward. Infernape deftly caught her and righted her as she stared at the array, completely dumbstruck. She knew she wasn't good at identifying Pokémon, but it was a little ridiculous that, of the 12, with only two mechanical looking ones that reminded vaguely of Bronzor, Olivia had no idea what any of them were. All of them were leaning forward to peer at her, half circled around Mr. Emmet protectively. He stood proudly at the center.

"This is my team, yup. See? Excellent manners. May they stay?" He seemed to be waiting keenly for her answer when something beyond her caught his attention. His eyes grew enormous, and his hands were lifting as if he was going to cover his mouth, before he started flapping them. "Is that an Alolan Raichu?"

He said, clearly already knowing the answer and her Raichu chirped curiously but stayed back. His blue eyes were fixed on the floating purple Pokémon, and he seemed reluctant to come closer.

"M-Mr. Emmet, I'm afraid this is too much to ask." Olivia finally managed to spit out, recovering from her stupor and his face fell, behind him his Pokémon exchanged worried glances. She was quick to interject before he tried to plead his case. "It's not just the food. My house can't handle this many Pokémon. I'm not going to confine you to your room, you can use the rest of the house, but that's going to seem like a lot less space come the colder months, Mr. Emmet. If your stay is indefinite, then all your Pokémon can't be here at once."

It was like she had let all the air out of a balloon, he was deflating, sitting heavily on the bed with a bloom of dust rising in the air. He stared into his lap, lost in thought temporarily as a few of his enormous team came over to comfort him.

She wasn't trying to be hard on the guy, but she needed to establish rules early on... Who was she kidding? She was also looking for an excuse for him to go away. Olivia wasn't sure she wanted the room to have an occupant. The silence finally seemed normal... even if it sometimes still hurt.

"What will it take?"

"Hm?"

He was looking up at her, his features morose except for the pained smile, it was like his mouth was stuck in the position.

"I will triple the asking price."

"It's not-"

Olivia tried to say but she could see he was starting to get frantic.

"Anything. Please, let them stay. They will not bother you."

She looked around at each one in turn, all of them starting to get as anxious as their trainer. She looked at the ones with the big claws and other sharp parts, at the ones floating off the ground, even the big one that smelled vaguely like garbage - Olivia looked them over one more time.

"Okay. They can stay, under one condition."

The relief that passed over his face was immense, like Olivia had spared his own life.

"In a few weeks, my crops will start to be ready, and I could use some help with harvesting."

"Harvesting?" To say he looked confused would have been an understatement. Mr. Emmet stared at her for a long moment before something must have clicked in his brain. "Oh yes, you do that here. My mistake. That is all you require?" His smile grew broader, more genuine as she offered him a little, hesitant nod. "That can be arranged, Miss Olivia."

Soon they sat down and were trying to hash out numbers and arrangements. She asked him if he had ever lived in the mountains before and a gave befuddled look.

"Nope!"

"I will warn you. It can get quite claustrophobic in the winters up here. There will be periods where we might not be able to leave the house for a few days. Power might go out, communication might be cut off, and we might start to run out of food... I need to know if you can handle those conditions."

She grabbed the paper they were loosely drawing a lease agreement on and started scribbling, mumbling as she wrote.

"I'm putting in a clause that if I find that you're unfit for the conditions here that I have the right to evict you. I know it's a little unfair, but I do live here alone, Mr. Emmet, and I have to prioritize my safety."

She expected to hear some rebuttal, some sort of outrage because now she was a little frantic. Nothing seemed to deter him. He wanted to stay here and nothing she said was swaying him. Olivia shouldn't have put that stupid sign up. She didn't need another tenant - having strangers in her home to fill the emptiness wasn't healing. She wanted so badly to ignore the ache.

"I am Emmet. That is agreeable. Safety is a top priority. "

Shit. She had a tenant. There was no escaping it.

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[notquitecanon]

Ohhhh or maybe one where the reader just makes jasper talk for a while just cuz she adores his accent 🥺

Jasper could feel your bad mood from outside your house- he was always so attuned you you. If his abilities were anymore developed he would probably be able to see your mood like a dark storm cloud hovering outside of your bedroom. Alice had a vision in the middle of their hunt of how your day would go, but with the sunny weather and the face they were already in the Canadian wilderness- he could do nothing but hope it wasn’t too bad. After stopping by his house to change clothes, he made a beeline to the tree line that surrounded your yard like a natural property line. He’d seen your silhouette in your window starting at five pm, but couldn’t make a move until the sun had gone down. The last thing his family needed was Chief Swan getting called because your neighbor caught him climbing into your window. The moment the sun dipped below the tree line, he raced up and into your bedroom.

You had been wallowing in self pity: already showered, in pajamas, and lying face down in bed with your computer playing some of your music quietly. The moment he crossed into your room, you felt his presence like a calming wave washing over you. Eyes fluttering shut as some of the tension left your body, you muttered, “Jasper.”

“Evenin’ Darlin.” His voice was like honey-warm, sweeter than sugar, slow, and sticky. Drawing you into his words and keeping you there while he lingered on the edge of your room. Ever the gentleman, waiting for your invitation. Prying your head out of your pillow, you faced him.

While you observed his freshly glowing golden eyes, slightly disheveled blonde hair, statuesque posture, and heavenly face- he did the same, taking in your tense muscles, dark under eye bags, flushed cheeks, and the general feeling of resignation and annoyance in your emotional map. He didn’t fail to notice you’d been crying- you didn’t fail to notice that he noticed. You were the first to break the silence, adjusting yourself to meet his eyes easier, “Good hunt?”

Jasper breathed a quiet laugh, such an abnormal question asked so nonchalantly, but entertained the notion nonetheless, “Most of us went up into Canada, into the mountains. Emmet took on a pretty big grizzly so he’s in a particularly good mood. I got a Moose and a couple deer.”

You didn’t know what truly constituted a “good hunt” but his thirst seemed appeased so you nodded. The head ache that came after a long day hadn’t put you in a particularly chatty mood. Jasper filled the silence, “Alice told me you had a bad day- well, told me you would have a bad day. I’m sorry I couldn’t help, doll.”

Shaking your head, you brought your knees up to your chest before wrapping your arms around them, “Not your fault, Jazz, bad days happen.”

There was a beat of silence as the two of you stared at each other, him trying to dissect every emotion you were feeling and you mentally begging him to just drop it. Finally, you just patted the spot beside you, motioning for him to join you. Talking waant something you wanted to do, but just having him close would be a big step towards feeling better.

As always, the vampire had a hard time saying no to you. So with the mattress dipping beside you, he easily slid beside you- staying perfectly still until you were situated. As usual, you bunched up a blanket where you cheek would rest against his chest- thick enough to cushion against his stone chest but thin enough to be close enough to smell the comforting scent he always had on him. Cologne, cedar, leather, something woodsy, and a sweet scent you could never quite put a finger on. After letting you settle, he looked down to you, “Wanna talk about it, sugar?”

He felt you shake you head before you nestled closer to him, so he just wrapped his arm around you alternating between tracing patterns up you arm and running cold, graceful fingers through your hair. One of your arms flopped across him just to have more phsyical contact, and Jasper frowned out of your sight. Besides truly changing your emotions (which felt invasive), he didn’t know how else to help. So for the moment, he just let you curl into him. Golden eyes raked across the room before landing on a book on your nightstand so without jostling you, he easily snatched it up.

Not bothering to read the synopsis, he began flipping through the first chapter- quickly becoming amused at the scandalous historical fiction set during the Civil War in Mississippi. Now that he thought about it, he remembered Angela passing it off to you during third period. He chuckled at a particularly inaccurate and racy part. His laughter was deep and reverberated through his hard chest which roused you, at your movement, he tried to quiet himself, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. This book is just so terrible.”

His amusement made it hard not to smile as you tried to snatch the book out of his hands, the racy novel had been on lend from Angela and after the second chapter had been collecting dust on your nightstand. He easily kept it out of your reach, amusement growing at your protest (and quiet proud that he’d got you laughing again, he could already feel your mood lightening up). Listening to his laughter made you long to hear him talk in the smooth southern accent, about anything (anything other than that awful book), “Well, if the book isn’t up to par, how about you tell me what it was really like?”

As his chuckling was dying off, he thought about it before tossing the book back on the nightstand. It wasn’t that his past was an off limits topic, there was just a lot of it and he preferred to live in the moment with you. But you were staring up at him with hopeful eyes, and he could feel the remnants of sadness and frustration so he just nodded. “Well, first of all Mississippi didn’t see battle until The Spring of 1862, and union soldiers didn’t make any head way until a year later. So the notion that a this woman met a union soldier celebrating victroy in New Albany is just wrong. Even if it was true, she wouldn’t be so eager to fall into any soldiers tent considering Conderate troops would of torched her father’s plantation for being a sympathizer or vice versa.”

“Hmmm.” You hummed in response to the history lesson, before he continued going back and forth between learned history and personal experience until he hit where he was changed. You’d heard this story, traced the silvery scars on his arms, so once he went quiet you didn’t press any further. “So where were you at the turn of the century?”

“I was still with Maria, we were going back and forth across the border in Texas and New Mexico, I honestly didn’t now it was the new century until 1905, but we were the cause of the Austin Dam failure.” He mused, thinking pack, “I left shortly after the start of the First World War, to search for my friend Peter and because I was tired of fighting Maria’s battles- she starting to lose trust in me and me in her.”

You’d heard him talk about Peter and Charlotte, the only two he ever let escape, “Did you find him?”

“No, not until the late 1930’s, so I mostly just wandered around the South and the West as a nomad. The roaring twenties were fun between Chicago and Mexico City, I’d like to go back to New Mexico someday.” He thought aloud, cold lips ghosting on the crown of your head as his grip on you tightened ever so slightly. The hand laid over him searched for his so you could intertwine you fingers with him. He squeezed for a moment before detaching just to play with you fingers, burning hot compared to his cold touch.

“Where’d you go next?” You asked, letting him gently tug and curl your fingers with his. Jasper laughed bringing your knuckles up to his lips. When he had just fed, it was so much easier to be so close- which is where he preferred to be.

“You’re mighty full of question tonight, ma’am.” He teased, dropping you hand in favor of lightly digging his fingers into your side. The quiet squeal, laughter, and weak attempts at fighting him off was so delightfully human that he couldn’t help but do it every now and then. Jasper gave you a moment to calm down before continuing, “I spent some time in Tennessee and then Kentucky, the Great Depression hit those areas pretty hard, but it was better than being involved in a territory war.”

“Peter and Charlotte ran into me in the Appalachian mountains- that would be the late 30’s- it was easier to hunt without gaining attention up there.” He paused to gauge you reaction, carefully checking for any fear. Finding none, he sighed in relief before continuing, “They told me about Coven’s in the North, how there weren’t many territory disputes and how in some areas they could even go out in day light...”

You let your eyes slip closed, tension melting as you listened to his honeyed words, and his fingers toyed with your hair. Jasper kept going, talking about traveling with Peter and Charlotte through the Midwest and Northern states before breaking off from them too. Then it was the Fifties, going into a diner and meeting Alice. You’d always envied Alice a bit for her closeness to Jasper, even though you knew neither of them felt that way for each other, but you were also incredibly grateful to her- who knows where Jasper would be without her.

“I remember she said that I’d kept her waiting long enough and I thought to myself I’ve never seen this woman in my life, but I sat down with her regardless and she told me about ‘vegetarianism’ and our future family. I could feel her excitement but I thought she was crazy.” He laughed to himself, a beautiful sound. You’d heard this story a few times from him and Alice. “I was about to go on my way, leave Alice in the wind when she told me something I couldn’t ignore.”

You perked up, neither of them had ever mentioned this part of the story. Craning you’re neck up, you saw he was watching you expectantly with a soft smile tugging those perfect lips up- waiting for a reaction, “She told me that she’d seen me with my soulmate and her future family. She couldn’t tell me when, or where, or how, but she’s seen it and I had to trust her. She felt so sincere and I’d been lonely for so long that I left with her that very afternoon.”

You sat up very suddenly, blood rushing to your cheeks ass you turned around to him, “Jasper, you’ve never told me that before! What are you doing with me then?”

Jasper couldn’t help but grin at the flash of indignation and feisty anger, but quickly frowned when it morphed to hurt. His movement was much faster and infinitely more graceful than yours as you took your face in his hands, “You were the girl in the vision, (Y/N), you’re what I’ve been waiting for.”

It was like someone pulled a plug on your negative emotions as they drained out to be replaced by jittery happiness, and he didn’t need his brother’s telepathy to see the wheel’s turning in your head, “Oh.”

Meanwhile, you were trying to figure out the appropriate reaction to being told your someone’s soulmate. You’d never really imagined life without Jasper, you’d long since admitted to yourself that he was the love of your life, “Well, I’m glad you believed her otherwise I could be with Mike Newton right now.”

It was a bad joke, but he laughed nonetheless and pulled you back down with him, now wrapping both arms around you-effectively trapping you to his chest, but you had no reason to be afraid or even attempt to break free. There was a long pause of silence, him sending off soothing vibes, (it was getting pretty late) listening to the sound of your heartbeat as it slowed, and waiting for you to doze off. It did surprise him when you spoke back up.

“Where’d you go next?” It was quiet, sleepy, but a request he wouldn’t deny. He’d pay you back by asking a hundred inane question about your childhood tomorrow.

Pulling your comforter over the two of you, he adjusted you to what would be a more comfortable sleeping position. He continued, “Well, in took a few years but eventually we met Carlisle who welcomed us to the family with open arms. It took a bit to adjust to the new life of going to highschools and colleges, being around humans. Alice would occasionally drop little hints about you, your hair color, eye color, things you would do in her visions, and that was enough to encourage me to stay with it.”

You only hummed in response, turning over a bit as you let him nudge you towards sleep. Jasper was more than surprised when you made it to the mid-seventies without falling asleep, but was satisfied that he could no longer read any anger or frustration on you. Brushing a lock of hair out of your sleeping face, he silently laughed at your unconscious reaction to his cold touch. Yes, he had waited nearly sixty years for you.

“Good night, darlin’. I love you.”

Bad moods and all, he’d wait a hundred years more for moments like these.

[ask-fallout-mayhem]

PART 1 COMPILATION:

Introductions

[Below the cut is the first part of the encounters between @ask-fallout-emmet-brickowski and @ask-fallout-mayhem]

One (1) General Mayhem arrives at a Deathclaw farm, and quickly checks her pip-boy to make sure everything is on track.

Which it does seem to be! And what luck, there seems to be people already outside on the far, so in an intentionally intimidating she heads towards them in her bulky power armor.

-- “Uh, Rex,” Emmet tells the man who is working in the field next to him. “Do you know who that is?”

The man in question looks up to also see the masked figure approaching. He stands up with his gun ready and shouts to the mysterious figure. “Hey! Who are you and why are you here?”

--

Oh crabapples, Mayhem thoughts begin to flow through her heard rapidly, maybe intentionally intimidating was not the way to go here, these guys just seem to be some normal ranchers, okay just gotta introduce myself in a normal person way.

“Greetings, I am General Mayhem of the Systar System’s Management, there is no need to use your weapons right now as I mean you no harm, I am simply looking for an officer from New Reno I have business with, do you know if I can locate him here? “

Was that normal? I think that was normalish, a little intimidating, but they are pointing a gun at me, so it’s a reasonable amount of intimidating.

--

Rex lowers his weapon slightly but still keeps his eyes on Mayhem. “Emmet, go get Bad Cop.”

Emmet nods and runs down the path that leads to the house. As he does so, Rex’s deathclaws come over to see what is happening. “We may but, if I may ask, what kind of business do you have with him?”

--

Well this is going way better than the last recruitment mission, they almost seem trusting, there has to be a catch, annnnnnnd the catch is he has deathclaws.

Mayhem sweats a little under her helmet, but tries to not let her surprise at the death claws effect her voice.

“ I’m here to offer him a tour of the Systar System’s Management HQ, we’re moving forward with a self image improvement plan by showing our faculties to high rankingindividuals of different areas, and I was told he was very prominent figure in the security, so he would be a valuable asset if he were to tell others that the Management was a trustworthy organization. “

Her eyes keep glancing back from Rex to the Deathclaws, she really wanted to ask if she could pet one, but alas she has a mission to do. Maybe she could come visit at a later time, if these guys didn’t end up hating her.

--

“I see…” Rex says as his deathclaws stand next to him. Emmet and Bad Cop then turn up causing the deathclaws to move away slightly so they can stand next to Rex.

“So, where do you plan to take us?” Bad Cop asks as he loads his laser rifle.“We would also like to know who this Management is controlled by before we make any decisions.”

--

Okay more guns, I gotta give a sarcastic yay to that, he knows I’m wearing power armor though, right? That gun isn’t gonna do a whole lot of damage. Wait didn’t the report mention something about two cops, but I only needed to bring back one guy, so if I get in trouble I’ll blame Susan for writing up bad reports.

But these guys aren’t like the Master Builders or anything, so I think I can try to be a little more friendly with them.

“I take it you’re the security personal I’m looking for, so nice meet you, and as I was explaining to your, uh friend here, I was planning to take you to our HQ, it’s located in the Mojave Wasteland, not to far from the New Vegas Strip, just inside of your run of the mill underground bunker.

And the head of the management is our Great Leader Wa'nabi, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Usually at this point an individual would have made comment on how they don’t trust the Management, or how they’ve heard bad things about it, which leads Mayhem to ask,

“I take it none of you have heard about the the Management before?”

--

They all shook their heads no.

“We have lived out the general Mojave area for years and we have never heard of this Management before.” Bad Cop tells her before flipping up his sunglasses to allow Good Cop to take over. “Of course, we would be interested in going if we can learn some more about this Great Leader Wa’nabi and their goals.”

--

“You haven’t heard of it before..? “

She asks, a happy little surprise on her part, a lot of groups like to spread untrue rumors about the Management, because it’s scary and new, and has some sort of undead general, it was finally nice to have some people who weren’t assuming anything about it!

“That’s great! Not that it’s great that you haven’t heard anything about it, it’s great that you havent heard of some of the totally untrue rumors!

And I mean it was founded only 5 years ago, and only in the last 2 years have we been expanding our reach, so to speak, so it makes since you might not have heard about it before.

And as for the Great Leader Wa'nabi, I mean I guess Great Leader is an opinion, but lots of other people think she’s great so it’s a good opinion.”

And then Mayhem goes on to prattle on the memorized introduction story for the Management, almost bored as she tells it, simply because of the number of times she has recited it in the last five years.

“After some major battle she was left without a home or family, and traveled the wasteland trying to find her place, but only found destruction and pain, and that just broke her heart and she decided to make a place where everyone has a chance to live a peaceful life. So she founded the Systar System, a group of interconnected settlements that helped each other out, but she felt that wasn’t enough, and went on the make the the Systars System’s Management, a more unified version of her vision. And it’s great, we take in people who don’t have homes or places to go, give them a shelter, a job, and a whole new life.”

And with the long sob story out the way she clasps her two hands together with a loud thunk, and says,

“And that’s sort of our goal, to just help people out, I hope that answer is satisfactory to you.”

--

“They sound awesome G!” Emmet tells Good Cop. “I think you should go! I mean if you want to, but I personally would.”

Good Cop nods and goes to tell her his answer but is interrupted by Rex. “As great as the Systar System sounds, how can we be sure that this isn’t a ploy to brainwash him?”

--

Ah the age old question, one of the hardest to prove, almost as hard as ‘prove you’re not a synth’. Luckily both questions Mayhem spends up all night thinking about instead of sleeping. Because she doesn’t really sleep more than once a month. 

She thinks to herself that maybe she needs to put more thought into that ‘prove I’m not a synth’ question.

Right the question at hand, she places her hands on her hips and starts going through her list of reasons why the Systar System wouldn’t brainwash people.

“Cause that would be something bad guys would do, and we’re not the bad guys here, I can assure you.”

Which seemed true enough to her, she helped people all the time, and that made her a good guy, and a good guy wouldn’t brainwash someone.

“Not to mention brainwashing is almost technically impossible, unless you have some sort of computer chip hardwired into your brain, and even then you couldn’t 100% control the person only alter their memories and motivations, but the science just isn’t there yet, so he shouldn’t have to worry about brainwashing for the foreseeable future, unless he’s like a synth, it’s probably really easy to brainwash a synth, he’s not a synth right, Im pretty sure he’s not a synth, not that there’s anything wrong with synths if he was one.”

The second part of her constructed argument came from her time as a bio-engineer where she helped some of her lab mates develop brain modification units, but they had discovered that they couldn’t truly control the brain, but she didn’t spend a whole lot of time on that research, most of her time was spent splicing Deathclaw DNA.

“But if you’re really scared of the possible brainwashing, you two could accompany him as protection, to make sure no brainwashing takes place.”

The last comment wasn’t really to get them to feel better, she had just noticed that Emmet made the comment he wanted to go, and he seemed like a perfect for the Systar System, quiet, polite, sweet, innocent, so she wanted to give him an excuse to join along.

--

Rex huffs before holstering his weapon. “Alright, we will go with him. Just don’t try anything.”

He motions for his deathclaws to follow and opens the gate that separated the farm from the outside world. As he leaves, he calls to Emmet and Good Cop to follow him. Once he is far enough way, Emmet turns to Mayhem.

“So, how long will this take? Rex probably wants to get back to his farm as soon as possible.”

--

“It should take an hour to get there, if we take my helibird,” which she had parked not to far, “but uh Rex wasn’t planning on bringing the deathclaws was he? I don’t know if they can fit on the ship, fitting four people on it might already be pushing the limits of what it can handle.” She did take the bigger ship with her, as she thought she might be needing to take two police officers back to the base, but even still it wasn’t like this was the best air craft in the world, it can’t handle a pack of deathclaws, you’d need a whole airship for that. That would be cool though, have your own air ship, travel around, scare people with how cool you are.

--

“He usually doesn’t go anywhere without one at his side but let me see if he is willing to leave them behind.” Emmet tells her before shouting to Rex. “Hey Rex! Mayhem says that she won’t be able to take your deathclaws with! Can you leave them behind?”

Rex turns around and shouts back, “You know that I don’t go anywhere without one of them, Emmet!”

“But Rex, Mayhem says that she can’t bring them with if we want to go with Bad Cop!” After Emmet shouts to Rex, the man looks like he is about to bark back something but stops to throw his hands up in the air in defeat. He calls over his deathclaws and puts some collars on them before pointing them back to the farm.

As they leave, he shouts back, “Alright, they’re gone! Are we now ready to get this show on the road?”