#i love you wanamingos

[coughee]

Fallout 2 wanamingo you have to stop. You wriggle too tough. Your swag too different. Your tendrils too bad. They’ll kill you.

[retphienix]

I’ve always loved how perfect a collectible the Keller tapes are.

Search around the world for bits of lore of a family confronting the apocalypse (Not nearly as utterly fantastic as the survivor logs in that New Vegas DLC but still something I always enjoy seeing in bleak environments) and the reward is an overly defended bunker full of loot and the legendary Fatman (in a game where legendaries can actually be something worth a damn and interesting, EH FALLOUT 4 RANDOM LOOT LEGENDARIES?)

After that I ran into some mad cows, found my first weapon kit (mod content) and noticed that one of my mods- I don’t know which one) clearly increases car explosions a LOT. They were already insane in this game, but I’m certain that’s bigger, I’m pretty sure.

HAD A HEART ATTACK GETTING ATTACKED BY A WANAMINGO. That thing is terrifying running at you in the night- I love the model they landed on for it. Since I just finished FO2 I left that game thinking they were among the most interesting additions for enemies. It’s a little disappointing they didn’t have the gumption to make them as resistent as they are in that game- seriously, in FO2 they have INSANE defense, on very easy they were still too much for me until late game. I’m playing on Normal (for now, I juggle and very much prefer very hard after I get a gun with ammo on hand for the xp buff) and he fell pretty fast.

Still gave me a heartattack. Would have loved to have seen what FO3′s official version might have looked like based on its concept art:

[kaijutegu]

Sunderlocke Update 7: Grand Theft Bus Stop

Beatrix almost lost her first Pokémon- for real. It would have been lights out for Tama, had she not toughed it out so that Beatrix wouldn’t feel sad. Good kitty. 

As far as islands go, Ula’ula is definitely Beatrix’s favorite so far. She got to meet one of her internet buddies! It was just as awkward as you’d imagine!

There were many fun things- genuinely fun things- that happened on  Ula’ula. Beatrix got to ride a horse! THIS happened!

But more importantly, life on Ula’ula seems like actual life. Not everything revolves around combat here- the people at the recycling center, the observatory, and the power plant actually do things, and don’t ask little kids to do dangerous stuff for no reason. The only adult who asked her for a real favor just wanted her to run a quick errand and deliver a mask- and while yes, that’s somebody else’s problem, it’s not a huge problem. Plus, Molayne was pretty cool for an adult. He didn’t have any time for Kukui’s kayfabe either.

After a brief, unimpressive encounter with Team Skull (and getting to meet their boss, another adult who gets kids to do his dirty work), Beatrix demolished the ghost-type trial. Taking pictures of ghosts? Who wouldn’t have fun with that? A few Darkest Lariats from Mittens and everything was peachy keen. Stephen leveled out of reach again, but Bea’s not too far from her next grand trial. 

Trades

Walter the level 25 Trumbeak (Route 11) -> “Zeitgeist” the level 56 Gengar  Wikipedia the level 27 Magnemite (Malie City Cape) -> “Pebbles” the level 13 Roggenrola Wanamingo the level 26 Fearow (Route 10) -> Cutiepie the level 11 Caterpie  Winchester the level 27 Fearow (Mount Hokulani) -> “Sergei” the level 9 Wingull West the level 27 Torkoal (Route 12) -> “Joker” the level 1 Eevee Water Lily the level 30 Bruxish (Route 13) -> “Tom Servo” the level 1 Beldum

Joker and Sergei are named after the people who traded them to me. I thought they were both fairly good names. Cutiepie came with that nickname. I’m extremely charmed. 

Levels

Lucina the Decidueye : 39 to 45 The Original Kitten Mittens the Incineroar: 39 to 45 Tentacha the Tentacruel: 39 to 44  King the Gyarados: 37 to 43 Stephen the Electabuzz: 50 to 53  Tama the Persian: 41 to 47

Highlights

As much as Beatrix finds Hau really annoying, it’s pretty cool when he uses actual Hawaiian slang. “Da kine” here is a placeholder word- kind of like whatchamacallit. It’s "the word you use when you don't use the word."

I love the trash family. I love them so much. 

[shipburner]

Fallout: Atlantis

A Fallout game by somebody who has never played Fallout and is just now reading the wikis

So, I took @tyrantisterror‘s “Your Own Personal Fallout” post way, way too seriously for someone with no connection to the games.

Name and Location of The Wasteland: the Tidewater Expanse (the Chesapeake Bay plus several feet of sea level rise). Distinct from the Capital Wasteland due to the 30 miles and water barrier separating them.

Time Period: the more I try to learn about the Fallout timeline the more my head hurts

Primary Slice of Americana: Kitschy tourist traps, the way some states have urban and rural areas abutting each other so closely (the Tidewater Expanse transitions very quickly from settlement to farmland/waterways/waste), a soupcon of Moby Dick-esque whaling yarns

Central Thematic Conflict: Identity: who are you, in a world of chaos and change? What do you choose to center yourself around? Do you find solace in ideals? In aesthetics? In challenges? People have different answers to that question.

PC’s Title: The Reporter

PC’s Motive for Exploring the Wasteland: You're a newspaper with a staff of one, but by gum are you going to make your paper the best ever! You travel around the Tidewater Expanse looking for people's stories, interviewing them and possibly doing journalistically unethical things by involving yourself in their stories.

Bestiary

Recurring Creatures and Robots: ‘Cause it’s not Fallout without radroaches, Deathclaws, and ghouls

Humanoid:

Ghouls

Super Mutants: Some dipshits tried to keep FEV at the Aberdeen Proving Ground and made super mutants again, proving that we never learn from our fucking mistakes.

Synths

Mammalian:

Brahmins, which curiously have red-and-white or black-and-orange patches

Dogs

Radstags and yao guai, which likewise have the Maryland flag pattern

Reptilian:

Gulpers, which are human-sized, fast, brightly colored, and hide in the undergrowth/under logs and buildings. They're referred to as burners, since some of them can breathe fire.

Lakelurks/mirelurk kings, evolved diamondback terrapins. Referred to as landlurks, they can use tools, have language, and are treated as people in the Tidewater Expanse, often retrieving things from the drowned cities.

Pinkclaws, deathclaws whose shrimp-rich diet has made their keratinous structures bright pink. Their horns have fused into head-crests that vaguely resemble beehive hairdos. They are found exclusively as the battle mounts of the Hons.

Arthropod:

Bloatflies

Bloodbugs

Giant ants

Giant mantises

Mirelurks (referred to as baylurks), since they're canonically blue and horseshoe crabs.

Radroaches

Wanamingos, using @bogleech​'s flea-wanamingo idea.

Robots:

Eyebots

Mr. Handys/Gutsys/Nannys

Assaultrons, protectrons, sentrybots (found at the Aberdeen Proving Ground)

New Creatures and Robots:

Various kinds of giant fish (pumpkinseeds, eels, perch, killifish, and whatnot).

Bagels, shrieking flocks of seagulls which lower your Karma when you kill them as a "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" reference.

Bugbears, giant jumping spiders taken from the Bogleech Fallout bugs article, occupying the same "killer rabbit" role as wig-wigs in the Edge Chronicles.

Chessies, otter-like creatures that are actually Chesapeake Bay Retrievers mutated to live in a watery environment. They mob your boat, although sometimes it's out of affection.

Crabkens, colony organisms made of hundreds of thousands of blue crabs, which wrap tentacles made of crabs around boats and pull them to the bottom of the Bay.

Goblins, hairless raccoons that dig through ruins.

Hugbugs, giant, mutated lovebugs, the corpses of which can be made into goo bombs and the living of which will swarm you and cook you to death like Japanese honeybees.

Iron crabs, aquatic spy robots that look like crabs.

Loxo zombies, humans infected with a mutated version of Loxothylacus panopaei, with larva-bearing barnacles on their guts. Loxo zombies are obsessed with the propagation of their larvae, but often retain their original personalities.

Misties, island-dwelling wild horses with the ability to turn invisible.

Pentecost lice, a mutated version of Cymothoa exigua found in various fish and in some humans. They have human-sounding voices, and some claim they are oracular.

Snakeheads, humanoid snakehead fish who wear human masks and try, buffoonishly, to infiltrate our society.

Snallygosters, vaguely birdlike/dragonlike creatures with one eye, metal beaks, and a fringe of tentacles surrounding their beaks.

  Factions

Faction 1: The Watermen (The Well-Intentioned But Flawed One)

Leader: Captain Cate Claw, a salty-mouthed woman who runs a fishing boat and uses a mirelurk claw as a hook

Goal: To care for the Tidewater Expanse and survive off its bounty

Distinctive Visual and Behavioral Theme: The Watermen all wear stereotypical yellow hats and raincoats, often with some sea-beast trophy. While they make an effort to care for the Tidewater Expanse, there are many who backslide into overfishing.

Faction 2: The Proven (The Obviously Evil (But Partially Justified?) One)

Leader: Jack Utsumi, a severe-looking and internally tortured scientist

Goal: To utilize the technology of Edgewood (see below) to bring order to the land and possibly restore it to its former glory. Utsumi doesn't want conflict, but many of his henchpeople do.

Distinctive Visual and Behavioral Theme: The Proven are very clean-cut, and enjoy white garb and well-maintained equipment. They incorporate the Brotherhood of Steel's tech thing, but with a less shiny aesthetic than regular Fallout: their tech is black, boxy, and flat, with a somewhat ENIAC switchboard look. The Proven aren't xenophobic, but they do buy heavily into the myth of "make it on your own", ignoring that they're the ones who found all the fancy toys.

Faction 3: The Hons (The Amoral But Not Necessarily Evil One)

Leader: Attila the Hon, a powerful, motherly woman with a scarred face, stilted way of speaking, and flamboyant feathered overcoat

Goal: To make the world a safe space for arts and performance

Distinctive Visual and Behavioral Theme: Think Baltimore "Hon" culture meets old sword-and-sandal films. They employ press-on claw gauntlets, detachable beehive hairdos filled with angry bees, and floral-patterned lorica armor. As previously mentioned, they ride pinkclaws.

Faction 4: The Criers (Actually Interesting Fourth Choice)

Leader: Mr. Raven, a ghoul and former Edgar Allan Poe reenactor, who tries to use "Nevermore" at any opportunity he can get

Goal: To remember history that would otherwise be forgotten

Distinctive Visual and Behavioral Theme: The Criers dress like a mishmash of historical periods, having been cobbled together relics from historical reenactment societies. They research the history of the Tidewater Expanse, both before and after the Great War. Many of them stay permanently in character.

Companions

Male Unaffiliated Companion: Carl Cramer is the smiling-crab-logo-shirted proprietor of the Crab Mart, the convenience store in the Cape (see below). He can be convinced to come adventuring with you to give the Crab Mart a proper mail-order service. He has no fear, but also no sense of self-preservation, and his morality is heavily centered around whether or not people will be able to acquire snacks and household goods with ease and efficiency.

Female Unaffiliated Companion: Ori Paimana, a tall and friendly woman who runs the Cape Marina, and is perhaps overly eager to talk to you about spears, harpoons, and other implements of pointy death. She makes a mean clam chowder. She can be convinced to come adventuring with you to cover any perceived ineptitude with boats or fear of bay monsters.

Robot Companion: Joanna, a synth who wants to leave Kent (see below) behind and find her own way in the world.

Canine Companion: Dwayyo, a loner, a rambler, a rogue, a Captain Ahab with a twinkle in their eye and significantly better intentions than Ahab. Dwayyo is a humanoid dog-thing on the trail of Schnell Geist (see below); think the Kate Beaton "Nemesis" comics.

Third Nonhuman Companion: Dr. Dinky is a landlurk and a skilled science educator. He is also extremely small and frequently falls on his back. It is implied that he is centuries old and can remember his life before the Great War. (There is a real Dinky, a denizen of the education center at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, MD.)

Evil Companion: vehicle and weapons dealer Big Bill Hell isn't a bad person, necessarily. However, he is incredibly foul-mouthed, claims that he'll fuck the spouses of people he dislikes, and will cheat you out of every cent you've got. Has a horrifying "Challenge Pissing" attack.

Faction 1 Companion: Barnacle Billie, an ecologist working for the Watermen. She may or may not have deliberately become a loxo zombie in an ill-thought-out if effective attempt to transition.

Faction 2 Companion: Babs Eldridge, a computer programmer with the Proven. She has a mother and a sister to provide for, and wants them to be safe.

Faction 3 Companion: Sweet Sal, a beehive-sporting protectron who talks in a LARGE, HAMMY VOICE about GLORIOUS COMBAT. May harbor a crush on the Reporter.

Faction 4 Companion: Samuel Smythe, a minuteman with the Criers who fights with an oversized town crier's bell, and loves the idea of spreading news to the Tidewater Expanse.

Other NPCs:

Violetta Vaughn, one of the Criers in Naptown, who's trying to build airships to ease travel in the area.

Schnell Geist, a giant albino Snallygoster. Reputedly intelligent, Schnell Geist is the Moby Dick of the area.

Natty Boh, the flamboyant, one-eyed mayor of More, and Domino, his hulking assaultron bodyguard. Mayor Boh is head-over-heels in love with local desalination plant owner Ms. Utz, but is absolutely terrible at words, leaving Domino to play the Cyrano.

Locations:

Starting Town: the Cape (Cape Saint Claire, an Annapolis suburb). The Cape's primary conflict is a Hatfields-and-McCoys-esque conflict between two families whose initial conflict is implied to have been competing soccer moms.

Small Town 1: the Glen (Glen Burnie). Here you'll meet the Proven, accused (in one case rightly) of atrocities by some local Watermen. There's also a collection of Criers trying to focus on exploring the ruins of BWI.

Small Town 2: Kent (Kent Island). Kent is a Stepford Wives-esque community, with synths (some of whom don't know they're synths) turning out cheerful, idyllic trinkets for people using what remains of the island as a stop on the water routes.

The Big City: More (Baltimore). More is the bustling metropolis, and the trade hub and entertainment center of the Tidewater Expanse. It is the headquarters of the Hons, and where you meet Sweet Sal, as well as Big Bill Hell.

The Less Big City: Naptown (Annapolis). Naptown is abuzz with activity from the Criers, looking to recover historic items, and home to some very good crab places. You'll meet Barnacle Billie here.

The Sketchy City: Edgewood (Aberdeen Proving Ground). Edgewood is full of weapons dealers, mercenaries, and folk seeking to plunder the stores of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. You'll meet Babs Eldridge, and the rest of the Proven, here. The Proven look down upon the rabble of Edgewood.

Faction 1 Headquarters: The Academy, formerly the Naval Academy and now repurposed as the largely pacifist and scientific academy of the Watermen.

Faction 2 Headquarters: the Arsenal, a former army compound near Edgewood.

Faction 3 Headquarters: Hon Street, an enclave located within More, patrolled by pinkclaws and actually a nice, if very loud, place to live.

Faction 4 Headquarters: the Historic London Town and Gardens, remarkably well-preserved.

Scary Sidequest Dungeon: Druid Ridge. A drowned catacomb beneath the former cemetery. Something haunts it. Something powerful and monstrous. Something that you'd mistake for the statuary. Something artificial that came back to its namesake's old resting place…

Funny Sidequest Dungeon: The Maryland State House, final goal of a National Treasure-esque mission the Criers send you on. Its puzzles are … pretty dang goofy.

Tedious and Enormous Sidequest Dungeon: Crabcracker Cove. A giant mirelurk nest where you have to collect samples from every single mirelurk you kill. It takes a long-ass while to get them out.

Super Weird Sidequest Dungeon: Long Bridge. A covered bridge in the north that is far bigger, far darker, and takes far longer to cross than by rights it should. Contains the holographic ghosts and ghost people from Dead Money, way too many crying baby noises, and a Goatman.

The Obligatory Vault: Vault 18. Vault 18 was designed to protect the culinary knowledge of the world, and taught its denizens to treat recipes with ritual importance. Its denizens wear yellow metal armor and plague doctor masks filled with 18 sacred herbs and spices.

I fucking hate Old Bay seasoning.

[owlaholic68]

You weren’t like this yesterday- Chapter 3 Alternate Ending Version

Go read the bad ending here. Inspired by an idea I had combined with a comment from @thedesertdancer. Warnings: abusive relationship, minor character death. 

To an outsider, nothing is wrong.

But Goris has been travelling with them for less than a day, and he’s always prided himself on being observant. He sees, but he doesn’t understand.

At first, he writes it off as over-protectiveness. He doesn’t know much about humans, but he’s seen parents and children. But when he tries to overlay that model over Carla and Lenny, it doesn’t quite fit. There’s a paranoia in the way Carla watches their surroundings. Even Goris himself feels her surveying him constantly, tensing up when he gets too close to Lenny.

Maybe it’s love. He’d read about that, and at first it seems like it fits. Carla keeps Lenny close and is very tactile, always holding his hand or sitting with him in her arms. And Lenny reciprocates, but he’s shyer about it.

But when Goris accidentally bumps into Lenny when the group is getting into an elevator, he realizes that he’s not shy. He’s scared.

When Goris brushes him with his huge body and Lenny stumbles, Carla immediately rounds on the deathclaw.

“I’m sorry, C-Carla,” Lenny immediately blurts, grabbing her arm. Goris, ever observant, notices that Carla’s hand is on her gun, and that Lenny’s eyes are a little too wide, too pleading. “It was just- I just tripped over his foot. I’m- see, I’m fine, really.” Carla buys the lie, but Goris doesn’t understand why Lenny even lied about something that simple. He had jumped so quickly to Goris’ defense, as if…as if Lenny had known that the situation was going to turn dangerous. Carla had had her hand on her gun. For something as simple as an accident. Goris resolves to watch himself more closely, to avoid any further accidents.

He could have written off Lenny’s reaction as nervousness, a precaution to guard against Carla’s quick temper. But then they stopped for the night, parking the Highwayman under an outcropping of rock.

“I’ll be fine laying on the hood,” Goris assures them. He might be able to sit in the backseat of the car, but he’d rather sleep under the stars. The car is still warm, and Goris curls up on the smooth metal, quickly finding himself comfortable. Curious, he keeps one golden eye open to watch Carla and Lenny, who are sitting in the backseat.

They put the seat down so there’s enough room, then Carla takes something out one of her pockets. Lenny seems surprised, but says nothing. He doesn’t seem to say a lot. He turns his back to Carla, and Goris hears a series of soft clicks. He raises his head a little to see better, and is confused at what he sees. Lenny turns back to Carla, a pair of thin handcuffs keeping his arms behind his back.

“I got those for you from the Vault,” she whispers. “I know you didn’t find the rope very comfortable, but you were too sweet to complain.”

Goris doesn’t understand. This is not a normal human thing, as far as he’s concerned. And he’s not naïve, he’s heard of rituals like this for more…intimate purposes, but that doesn’t seem to fit. Why do humans use those things? The Vault computer recommended them for criminals, or to keep someone prisoner. But Lenny doesn’t seem concerned or upset, or even trying to escape.

Carla kisses him and Goris feels like he’s intruding, and he closes his eye and settles in to sleep.

“I love you,” she whispers. “Good night.”

As he falls asleep, Goris isn’t sure he hears Lenny’s reply correctly. That can’t have been what he said.

“Thank you, C-Carla. I love you too.”

This routine continues for two more days.

They run into a pack of giant mantises, and Carla and Goris easily fight them off. Lenny stays in the car. Goris thinks that it’s from cowardice, then he realizes that the ghoul’s not even armed. Who walks this wasteland with not so much as a knife on them?

It doesn’t matter much, though. Carla eviscerates the enemies, and Goris watches her back and makes sure none of them surround her. When all of the mantises are crushed to dust, Carla opens the passenger side door and Lenny wraps his arms around her. Goris pretends he’s not watching, inspecting his claws and idly scratching them on a rock.

“You did- that was real great, C-Carla.”

She kisses up and down his neck, murmuring things he can’t hear. Lenny doesn’t say anything else, stroking Carla’s hair and ignoring the mantis blood covering her body. They stay like that for a few minutes, until Carla kisses him one last time and smiles. Lenny smiles back, but Goris’ sharp eyes can see his hands shaking. In fear, or…something else? He almost looks relieved, or happy. Carla waves the deathclaw over, and Goris climbs back into the backseat. I can’t understand these humans and their contradictory emotions.

Goris has never seen San Francisco before, but he’s seen pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. He doesn’t quite remember there being any mention of a spaceship parked on it, but at least the rusting red columns are familiar. He’s so absorbed with looking up at the towering wreck of a monument, he almost runs into Carla and Lenny, who have abruptly stopped in front of the stairs to the Hubologist’s bunker.

“Len,” Carla says, holding Lenny’s wrist instead of his hand.

“I’m sorry,” he stutters. “Please, C-Carla, can I- may I wait up here, with- maybe with Goris?”

“No, you may not. You’re going down there with me, okay?” Carla leans in close and Lenny flinches. “Don’t you trust me, Len?”

“Yes.” Lenny immediately replies, staring down at his feet. “It’s just that- they, they’re scary, C-Carla, and, and they-” Goris sees for the first time that Lenny’s not just scared of Carla; he’s terrified of her.

“Len,” Carla growls, “I don’t want to hear your fucking whining, remember?” He nods and sniffles, tears welling up in his eyes. “Oh, Len, don’t cry,” Carla wipes away the tears that drip down onto his hollow cheeks. “It’s going to be okay, I won’t let them hurt you. You remember I said that, right?”

Goris is getting emotional whiplash from this conversation, but some pieces are starting to come together. Lenny’s too scared of her. I thought she would never hurt him, but I don’t think he’d be like this if all she did was yell at him. Speaking of which, she’s apparently told him to shut up before. Goris thinks about how little Lenny says, and how much of what he does say is compliments, or apologies, or the “I love you” that he says every night before going to bed. He goes to bed handcuffed. She doesn’t let him out of her sight. He isn’t allowed to argue with her. Why doesn’t he just leave if she treats him so badly?

After Carla has calmed Lenny down, they enter the Hubologist’s bunker. She asks Goris to wait outside, and that suits him just fine. The tight corridors of the bunker would be cramped and uncomfortable for him.

The waiting gives him time to think.

Goris hates Wanamingos. The monsters are slippery and tough, and he’s seen one slap a deathclaw and send it flying ten feet.

Carla takes down a few, and Goris manages to get a couple himself. Lenny, as always, is in the car, ducked down in the seat. There are two monsters left when Carla grunts, and Lenny screams something. Goris turns and sees Carla face-down in the dirt. There’s no blood, but she doesn’t get back up, fully unconscious. The Wanamingo over her screeches and flaps its tentacles.

Goris swipes at the monster in front of him, and when he turns, Lenny is out of the car and skidding to his knees at Carla’s side. He ducks a swing from the abomination and pulls out a small pistol from Carla’s back pocket. He shakily shoots and misses, and has to duck again. Goris finishes his fight and turns in time to see the Wanamingo fall dead. Lenny drops the gun.

“Is she okay?” Goris asks, jogging over to them. Lenny turns Carla over and inspects her head, nodding and relaxing.

“Just- it’s just a concussion. Must have- it must have hit her in the head.” He shows Goris the sizeable lump forming near her temple, then rummages in one of Carla’s pockets and pulls out a Stimpack. He gently injects it into her neck. “We should go. The- I can drive the car for a little-little bit, there’s- I know of an abandoned shack nearby.”

Why doesn’t he just run? Goris wonders. She can’t stop him. He seems to actually care about her, though. It still doesn’t make sense. These two defy everything I’ve ever read about humans. He grunts in agreement and helps Lenny pick up Carla and settle her in the passenger seat. Then Lenny turns the keys in the ignition and starts driving away from the bloody battleground.

They drive for five minutes before Lenny breaks the silence.

“Don’t- don’t tell her I killed that thing, please,” he quietly says. “I’m going to say that you killed- that you took care of them all, and that she must- I guess she must have lost my- the spare gun when she fell.”

“Okay,” Goris rumbles. “Why would you lie about that, though?”

Lenny fidgets with the steering wheel. “She’d get real worried- real afraid if she knew I- that I’d been in a fight. I don’t want to- to scare her like that.”

Goris can’t help but comment, “because she’d hurt you, right?”

Lenny flinches. “She’s right, though. I- I’m just a doctor, I’d get hurt, I- I can’t- I’m too weak.” His voice trails away. “She’s right.”

Goris doesn’t say anything. They pull up to a rotting shack and Lenny stops the car. Together, they set Carla down on the dusty floor. Lenny sets her bag next to her and drapes a blanket over her body. He looks at the door, then back down at her unconscious form.

“Why don’t you just leave?” Goris asks. “She wouldn’t be able to find you.”

“She would,” Lenny whispers, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “And I- I don’t know, I can’t just leave. She- we- we do things together, Goris. And she- she’s not bad to me, she wouldn’t have to- to protect me like this if I didn’t keep messing up.”

“That’s why she’s like that, then? You messed up and made her mad one time?”

Lenny nods and rummages through Carla’s bag. He pulls out the handcuffs and sets them in his lap. “Y-yeah, almost a- probably a month ago. I didn’t – I didn’t trust her, and I worried too- too much about things she said- that she told me not to worry about. But she did that because she,” he smiles, eyes soft, “because she loves me, and because she- she wants to protect me.”

“And do you love her?” Goris asks. I’ve read about Stockholm Syndrome before. And abuse. And Lenny could be the example of learned helplessness in the Vault medical dictionary. He can’t realize that when you really love someone, you don’t hurt them.

Lenny fastens the handcuffs around one of bony hands, locking the other one in place behind his back by jamming it against the wall of the shack. He lays next to Carla and snuggles under her arm so it’s wrapped around him.

“Yes, I do,” he murmurs. “I love – I love her so much.” He smiles and closes his eyes, tucking his head under Carla’s and matching her breathing.

Goris watches and waits until he falls asleep, then stands up. I’m not sure I can just let them continue like this. Even unconscious, Carla curls around Lenny. They seem to be fine with it, but it’s not healthy. It’s not safe, not for either of them. Codependency doesn’t equal love.

Carla doesn’t look dangerous like this, but Goris has travelled with her long enough to know that one look from her is lethal. And Lenny looks peaceful and happy like this, but during the daytime he’s nothing but stuttering and placating apologies.

Goris brushes a knife-sharp claw at the base of Carla’s throat. She doesn’t stir. Goris hesitates. The abandoned shack is dark and still. Lenny would never let me rescue him. I think she’s taken him too far, so completely brainwashed him to believe everything she’s ever told him. Goris raises his claw. This is all I can do for him.

He brings his claws down: once, twice.

And then he walks away into the silent night.

[jinglyjangly]

So where the hell do Wanamingos come from? I just encountered some while playing Fo2 the other day and they're haunting my nightmares

they were made with FEV! im not sure with what dna or anything. since theyre a reference to the xenomorphs i dont think they wanted to give them much lore or something? its too bad, theyre the coolest monster creature in the series for me. i love when you go into vats and you see "the eyes?"