Curious & Curiouser

Chapter One

⠀ ⠀The courier's steps were uneasy and uncontrolled as she stumbled from the good doctors house. The Pip-Boy on her wrist weighed uncomfortably heavy, and the vault suit was far too bright for her eyes. Not to mention the headache thumping behind her eyes. Doc Mitchell, at least that's what the courier believed he had called himself, had offered a bed to her for a few days. As much as she had appreciated the hospitality, she had business to attend to. Some man had shot her in the head, and the courier had every intention on finding out why
⠀ ⠀Everything from before the bullet was an indecipherable blur. If she focused hard enough, she could picture a checkered coat and the barrel of a gun; then a smooth-talking voice telling the girl that some game had been rigged. Anything else was lost to the courier, even her name. Even her family; if she even had a family, that is.
⠀ ⠀The courier shook her head. Now wasn't the time to get teary eyed over a life she couldn't even remember. Talk to Sunny. That was the couriers objective.
———
⠀ ⠀NCR. Legion. Khans. Powder Gangers.
⠀ ⠀Kimball. Caesar. Lee Oliver.
⠀ ⠀Too many names, too many groups. The courier couldn't remember her own name, much less the names of all these groups and their leaders. She could appreciate Sunny and Trudys help though. After hunting a few geckos with Sunny - and discovering the courier had a certain level of muscle memory with a rifle - and tinkering with Trudys radio, the two Goodsprings women had been trying to fill the courier in on anything she may need to know. Most of which had been vaguely familiar, memories just out of reach from the courier.
⠀ ⠀By the the evening had come around, the courier had earned some caps and was able to buy some leather armor. The armor wasn't the best, but the courier wasn't intending on going to war anytime soon. It would at least protect her from melee sneak attacks, and maybe even a few stray bullets.
⠀ ⠀The courier sat at Trudy's table, Brahmin meat and a cool Sunset Sarsaparilla sat in front of her. The upper half of her armor had been unfastened and placed on the empty stool to her right. She was mindlessly listening to the newly fixed radio, and trying to enjoy her first meal since waking up, when a man all but stormed into the quiet saloon.
⠀ ⠀"I'm done playing nice!" The man yelled in Trudys face, "Hand over Ringo, or I'm burning this town to the ground."
⠀ ⠀The courier jumped to her feet, prepared to intervene. But Trudy, ever the pacifist, held up her hand to stop the courier in her tracks.
⠀ ⠀"We'll keep that in mind," Trudy flashed the man a well-rehearsed smile, "Now if you ain't buying anything, please leave."
⠀ ⠀The man snarled, but quickly turned to leave he was sure to brush his shoulder into the courier's on his way past. For a moment, the courier's hand balled into a fist and she had to swallow the urge to throw a punch. The courier briefly wondered if she had been a fighter before the bullet stole her life.
⠀ ⠀"What was that about?" Courier asked Trudy, "You shouldn't have let him talk to you like that."
⠀ ⠀Trudy sighed, and walked back behind the counter. She offered the courier another Sunset Sarsaparilla, which the courier gracefully accepted as she sat back at her meal.
⠀ ⠀"Well it seems our little town got itself dragged into some mess."
———
⠀ ⠀Definitely a fighter, Courier thought to herself as she hovered over the bleeding body of Joe Cobb. The rest of the powder gangers were lying in puddles of their own blood, and shit as pallor mortis had began to set in.
⠀ ⠀Courier shoved the heal of her foot in the gun shot wound on the powder gangers thigh. The barely alive man croaked out a pained sound, and the courier knelt down to talk to him.
⠀ ⠀"Are any other members of your shitty gang gonna come find this town?" Courier asked lowly.
⠀ ⠀"Why would I tell you that?" Joe Cobb spit a glob of blood at the courier.
⠀ ⠀"Because," the courier put on her best smile, and shoved her finger into a bullet hole, "if you answer, I'll be so merciful as to end your suffering, but if you don't..."
⠀ ⠀Courier snatched her finger around inside the wound again. This time Joe Cobb's scream was enough to draw the attention of the other towns folk. Everyone else had been talking to Doc Mitchell, getting patched up. Their eyes widened at seeing Courier borderline torturing a man. No matter how deserving of this punishment Joe was, the town was filled with pacifists. Their hesitation to fight was almost a weakness. Without the courier here, who knows what would've become of Goodsprings.
⠀ ⠀"You're as bad as them Legion bastards! What, are you one of them?!"
⠀ ⠀The courier shrugged, "Maybe I am — was. Maybe I was." She squinted her eyes, "Now are you gonna answer my question?"
⠀ ⠀"Fine okay! No, nobody's coming—"
⠀ ⠀Bang!
⠀ ⠀The courier needn't hear anymore, so true to her word she did Joe a mercy and put a bullet in between his eyes. As she got to her feet, the courier wiped her blood stained hands on her pants and walked back to the towns folk. Everyone was in relatively good health, only a few stray bullet wounds. But, they all were staring at the courier as though they were waiting for her to pull her gun out on them next.
⠀ ⠀"There won't be any other powder gangers coming here." Courier said, "So your little town is safe."
⠀ ⠀"Thank you," Trudy's smile was almost uneasy, "Will you be sticking around here?"
⠀ ⠀The courier shook her head, and glanced at her pipboy. "Nah, I've got a date with a fella in a checkered coat. It'd be rude to keep him waiting."
⠀ ⠀The town seemed to let out a sigh of relief at her declaration that she would be leaving. From there, the thanks from the people fell easily. Doc Mitchell gave her as many medical supplies as he could spare, Chet cut her a discount on some ammo, and Trudy did the same for some food.
⠀ ⠀"I hope you find what you're looking for, Courier Six." Sunny said with a smile, "And if you don't... well Goodsprings is always here for you to come back to."
⠀ ⠀Funnily enough, the courier almost believed Sunny.