open Fallout Equestria: Ground Zero [RP]

[Blacklight 118]

@@Guardian Braveheart,@@TheLineTrotter,  

Renatus hesitated at the griffin's words, his gun lowering slightly as the mermories of the events flashed inside his mind. His protest was further weakened as Knight, in an effort to deescalate the situation, placed himself between them and attempted to reassure him about the griffin. After a few tense moments, Renatus finally relented as he sighed, lowering the rifle and replied to the griffin, " Fine, don't tell us, though I'm holding you to your word. Don't make me regret my choice. Also let us just be clear about one thing, if like Knight said, she is holding slaves..." he paused, flashing his fangs before continuing, " I will not hesitate to end her..." He then turned his attention back to Knight, his eyes losing it's glow as he transformed back into a mare and deadpanned, " I'll be waiting outside," and trotted out of the room, deliberately slamming the door behind, causing some curious glances from several other ponies nearby as he waited outside the hotel for Knight

[Guardian Braveheart 23]

@,@@TheLineTrotter, 

 

I looked at Renatus turning into a mare again and going out. Good, the fire is out. No more fighting. I looked back at Vincent.

 

"Look, I'm not asking you to tag along with us or anything. I'd like to give you a choice," I told him. "Me and my companion are splitting this whole hired gun thing. I don't even know if they're still alive. We're going to Regia, where your 'friend' is. You can either go with us, or stay here. I can't offer you that much, but the one thing I can be sure is I'm not letting Renatus drain her unless she has a slave. It's your choice now."

 

I then got all my thing, and started limping my way out. I went beside her.

 

"Let's go then."

[Lil' Lovebug 1,041]

I pondered the proposal then I nodded. "Until we get you a better gun, I'll agree to this proposal. Name's Steady Hoof. I trust you will honor our agreement. You had plenty of chances to shoot us during that firefight and get away cleanly, so I'll trust ya for now." I nodded again and went over to Baryon.

 

"I assume you two have a plan?" I noticed the way the two were blushing and looking at eachother. I had to stiffle a laugh and scoff at the same time (which is way harder than it sounds).

Edited May 8, 2014 by Bladed & Verses

[TheLineTrotter 100]

@@Guardian Braveheart,

 @,

Vincent stared straight at Renatus, even as he heard Knight shouting at him... although his eyes darted towards the stallion as he spoke of attacking her if provoked. He nodded slightly at that: after all, if she provoked them, he could not blame them for fighting back... when the Changeling spoke of attacking her if she had slaves, Vincent made a lunging motion towards him... but stopped, mostly trying to intimidate the Changeling. He turned towards Knight as he heard them spoke... they were heading the same way he was..." I`ll come along... saftey in numbers, and all that." He figured it was for the best... that pair from before seemed more likely to shoot them in the back than pay them... he mentioned, like Renatus, stopping her if she had slaves... "Look... I... I understand you have to go after her if you see she has slaves but... you don't understand. She'd not a fighter, never was... you don't have to kill her..." he said, in a rare moment of desperation, his eyes growing soft as an almost desperate look came over him... before stiffening and returning his expression to it's normal complexion,walking out the door.

[Guardian Braveheart 23]

@@TheLineTrotter, @, 

 

Did I just capture a hint of desperation from Vincent. Oh my... A tough, bulky merciless  Talon, pleading for her friends safety. Oh... this just too good to be true. Somepony give me a camera and record this... oh wait, every camera in here is destroyed... damn it. I looked up to him, making sure I distance him and Renatus from each other.

 

"I understand," I said in a more... comforting manner. "I have bad blood against their kind. Almost all of us are. I'll give you a deal that will satisfy the both of us. If she ever has a slave, make her release it. If you do, it'll stack in my first one, he won't kill her. I'm giving you a chance to be with your friend again... and make her live longer and mend her ways. I don't believe our history will change... but I believe that ponies can change for the better."

[EcstaticWind 572]

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"Thanks. I appreciate it." Noble said, checking the magazine on the Carbine and reloading the weapon. Once he had it ready, he slung the weapon over his shoulder and walked over beside Steady. He remained serious, though inside, he found the Pegasus and the slaver to be interesting. The Pegasus looked like one of those rare hero types that the Wasteland usually broke, but the slaver didn't seem all that bad. Not that Noble was going to lower his guard around any of them, of course. Just a safety precaution he'd developed over time.

 

One thing he kept thinking about, though. Trust. Not really a word ponies just say, yet Steady apparently trusted him for now. On one hoof, unless he betrayed these ponies (which wasn't in his best interests anyway), he had a small group of allies. Smaller groups tended to be more focused than the larger ones and easier to manage. On the other hand, they likely had expectations on how he should behave. Which meant that his less honorable methods would likely draw negativity.

 

"Speaking from personal experience, everypony should have a plan. Worked well for me thus far. My name's Noble Persona, by the way. This was an...eventful first meeting." Noble said, deciding that now would be the best time to properly introduce himself.

[Blacklight 118]

@@Guardian Braveheart,@@TheLineTrotter,  

Renatus, who was still untrusting of the griffin, spotted him and Knight exiting the hotel and trotted over to them from across the street. Shooting a distrusting glance at the griffin as placed Knight between them, he asked him, " You think your ok to make the trip? You still look a bit injured from earlier. If you want I could turn to a pegasus and carry you for a while, or at least as long as I can." He looked down as he spoke, noting the rifle that Knight was using as rifle and the small cut on his neck, though that had scabbed over. None of that would have happened if it wasn't for a certain someone...he thought, casting another glare at the griffin, who he swore he detected something coming off him. Is that... desperation? He wondered as tasted the ambient emotions radiating off the griffin.

[Guardian Braveheart 23]

@,@@TheLineTrotter,

 

"Don't worry about me," I told him, a bit of a wheeze in my rasp voice. "I'm stronger than you think. Just let me be."

 

We all started walking to the direction of Regia. In about a day or two... we'll be there. But I hope we bump into a Raider camp first. I think Renatus could have a feast with a few Raiders.

 

"Hopefully, we'll get there tomorrow at sunset. And for your sake Renatus, we bump into another Raider encampment."

[Anneal 2,197]

@, @,

 

I glanced at the four ponies. They looked like they had seen a lot of things in this Equestrian wasteland...mostly not-so-good things. They were hardened, disillusioned by the reality of things. Anaphora was staring back at me, feeling her bandage. 

 

Steady Hoof and the stranger were now talking about what they were doing for the future, and were now waiting for my own answer. "Yes, we do. We're going Wind Barb. Anaphora said that we might be skipping a few towns and walking directly there, since they would expect us to jump to the nearest town possible and ambush us there." I answered,repeating what Anaphora just said.  

 

Anaphora jumped in. "If we can move faster than them, then we would be safe for a few days. Like I said, we might have to leave Forage here. Sad to say, he might slow us down and possible get him killed. It's better to leave him here. As for the more distant future...I might have to move east, maybe north to Stalliongrad and the Crystal Empire, so I need to get there before the winter sets in. As far as I heard, it's a partly intact and somewhat free of turmoil; probably because of the cold. It's not safe here. For me, at the least."

 

"And I might have to go to Stable 15. It's abandoned, but I need to get terminal data plans and resource chips from there. I need it for my Stable. A pony from that Stable told me it's on the northeast coast of Equestria, and I need to get there and back to my Stable within the year," I added. "Speaking of Stables...Steady, do you have anything inside your Stable? Judging on how you were mentioning how you were 'formerly' from there, I'm assuming it's abandoned as well. Can you tell me where it's located? I might need it.

 

"Oh, and...I didn't quite get your name."

[Sunbro 4 Lyfe 939]

Bright Spark had come to the realization that taking a Raider into a trading outpost was a terrible idea no matter how well he hid it. He decided to leave the Raider there, bleeding out from his hoof. With a simple, "fuck it" Bright Spark turned around and headed to that trading post he was going to. He could probably get another job, and not mess this one up.

As always, the traders there weren't getting much business. It was smarter to stay closer to cities when it came to the wasteland, traversing was done mainly by the likes of traveling merchants and mercenaries. If he needed money, that was the best way to go. Then again, he would probably be there a while. Bright Spark stood by the side of the road, making sure he looked tough. Looking tough ensured you got chosen for a task over others, an essential part of being a mercenary.

(OOC: I've kind of kept it open, don't really know where to go with this.)

[EcstaticWind 572]

@,

@,

 

"My name is Noble Persona." He repeated simply before looking over the mare, as if analyzing her. After a moment, he smirked only for it to turn into a pained expression as his stomach rumbled painfully. "Ugh...Maybe we should stop for food and rest first and set out once we've got some strength back."

[Blacklight 118]

@@Guardian Braveheart,@@TheLineTrotter,  

Renatus only walked in silence, his thoughts slowly drifting back to the griffin. Even though he had given his word as a mercenary and a griffin's word was a good as stone. Still, a small part of him nagged at him in the back of his mind, asking him if he could really trust him if shit hit the fan with the slaver. He knew from tasting the griffins earlier emotions that he cared deeply for her, which oddly tasted sweet and sour, reinforcing his doubt. I just can't trust him...at least not until he opens up. ​He concluded as he gave another distrustful glance at the griffin.

A small growl from his stomach alerted him to another problem, Come on, not this early...He thought to himself as he gave a disapproving glare at his stomach, which replied with another low growl. Suddenly it occurred to him, his transformations, while requiring a low amount of energy, required a constant amount of energy to maintain, causing him to lose more energy much more quickly than what he had expected. Instead of having two days of energy which he had first expected, he now had maybe half a day left. And that spell I cast back at the clinic didn't help either...he thought depressively, his ears flattening slightly as the reality of the situation hit him. He was going to need to tell Knight about this. Quickly trotting alongside Knight, he spoke in a low voice, " Hey Knight, we might have a problem."

[Guardian Braveheart 23]

@@TheLineTrotter,@,

 

I looked back at him. Although he does look ok, I think he's energy is drained... maybe food, water, emotions... seriously, Changelings are complicated. 

 

"What is it Renatus?" I asked him. I'm serious, He needs to carry his own weight sometimes... but not now. After a ton of kills, maybe. But for now, what does he want?

 

"What do you want?"

[Anneal 2,197]

@, @@Windbreaker,

 

"Noble Persona?" I (Anaphora) repeated. Quickly, I added another comment: "Sounds like a nice name to me." Baryon made a deathly glare at me. Guess my speech skills didn't convince everyone.

 

Luckily, Noble did not notice, and was instead groaning on a bit of "rest". "Oh, I have some food..." I said, rummaging through my backpack for anything of use. "This is one of my leftover Mac & Cheese boxes. There's still some food in there. Oh, and I also have a small serving box of Sugar Bombs..."

 

I glanced back at Baryon, who was still merrily trying to fish out some bottle caps from his stable barding pockets. He hasn't seen enough of the wasteland yet...just wait until he sees what he's really like. He might try to kill himself after that, maybe by shooting himself or jumping off a cliff, entrails everywhere...or maybe a pony would be merciful enough to end his misery... 

 

I shook all those thoughts off my head. Somehow, I couldn't stand to see such a calm pony like Baryon with blood on his face. Still, all of those were true...was his fate better off when he left his Stable? "We may have to rest out in the plains," Baryon suddenly said. "It's too dangerous to stay here, after what happened to this place. These ponies already suffered enough; it's time we leave before we make things worse."

[Lil' Lovebug 1,041]

My head drooped close to the ground at the mention of my Stable. After having just killed Frizzen, thinking about my Stable hurt like a fresh, open wound. "I... I'm sorry. I know you need this, but I can't think about rummaging through what's left in my Stable, not after what just happened with Frizzen." I turned away from Baryon. "I won't reveal the location of my Stable and I won't let the memory of what happened there be defiled by scavengers."

 

I sat down hard on the ground as tears came to my eyes. Tears dripped into the dirt as I began sobbing. I felt someone lean up against me and a beautiful, soothing voice say. "I think leaving here is a good idea. Anaphora, that measly amount of food will not suffice for a trip as long as you're talking about. I have a large amount of food in my cart, but I need to restock a bit before we head out. If we do it right, it should sustain us for the entire trip; though, stopping in a town to replenish along the way would be advised." Amber nuzzled my cheek and sat there hugging me. I leaned into it closing my eyes and crying.

[EcstaticWind 572]

@,

@,

 

At the sight of food, Noble's eyes lit up and his serious persona broke. He reached out to accept the food from the slaver mare and gave her a grateful and charming smile. "Thank you, madame. You're a lifesaver." He said, before clearing his throat and returning to his serious expression.

 

He looked around, noting a second mare in the group for the first time. He didn't have much by way of a plan aside from tag along with these ponies for a while and ease his boredom. "So, what are your names? Since I told you mine."

[Anneal 2,197]

@, @@Windbreaker,

 

My smirk disappeared when Steady burst into tears. Now this time, it was me glaring at Baryon. Nice going, Stable pony, I thought. Now Amber was the one that was speaking up, pointing out how I had a lack of food. "All right, I admit this amount of food isn't going to feed everyone, but I can manage to get by with only a backpack of supplies. You just need to find the right seller and say the right words.

 

"Bargaining is an effective game ponies have to master and take seriously," I added, spinning and flipping a bottle cap into the air. The bottle cap fell perfectly onto my hoof. "That's how I get ponies to do what I want. How do think I survived off a few hundred caps?"

 

I looked at the still crying Steady. "And seriously, tell him to stop crying. In the end, you're not going to accomplish anything, so you better get up while you can before I consider you to be dead weight. Plus, stallions aren't supposed to cry in front of mares."

 

Baryon punched me with his hoof. "What was that for?"

 

"Shut up, Baryon!" I shot back, then turning to Steady. "You want to know something? Most ponies aren't even going to give a shit about you when you're down on the ground. To them, you're just a typical, useless pony who can't even handle adversity. I've been abandoned by my closest friend, right when I fucking needed him the most. The world doesn't revolve around you. Either you get the fuck up, or you're going to be rejected, no matter how moral, kind, or attractive you are.

 

"You might get pissed at me. That's good. You better be, because that means I got your attention now. A slaver's words might mean nothing to you, but it means something to me. If you spend your time weeping over the past, you're going to lose the chance to rebuild your future. You're just a pony to others, but you better be a good one when you look at yourself in the mirror. That's the harsh reality – welcome to the world."

[Lil' Lovebug 1,041]

Amber rushed up to Anaphora and held her revolver to Anaphora's head. "Don't," she hissed. "I don't care who you are or what you've done. You could be the Messiah of the Wastes and I wouldn't care right now. You may have been abandoned by you're friend, but you didn't have to kill him, did you? You haven't lost an entire community and family to raiders, have you? Did you lose a group of survivors of the massacred community one by one, did you?"

 

Amber huffed and got away from the slaver. I walked up to her and put a hoof over her shoulder. "She's partially right," I said. "I can't just sit here crying when we need to escape. We need to resupply and leave. That said, we can't be at each other's throats and feel superior to each other. We are peers now, an we need to treat each other as such." I sighed. Rubbed my hoof through my hair and went over to Anaphora. "Sorry."

[EcstaticWind 572]

@,

@,  

 

Noble had nearly dropped the food and drawn his pistol when the second mare advanced on the slaver with a pistol. Fortunately, Steady had intervened in time. When he thought about it, her words were scathing and they gave Noble pause for thought. His gaze drifted to the rifle on his back as he realized exactly what it meant to Steady.

 

Of course, Noble's moment of reflection and appreciating such moments were interrupted by his growing annoyance at having to ask the same question several times. That and it seemed like a good way to break the tension. "So, aside from Steady, do any of you have names?"

[Anneal 2,197]

@, @@Windbreaker,

 

"Every pony, stop it!" I (Baryon) finally yelled to the group, sharply raising my voice. "There are always other ways to solve our problems, but trying to kill each other isn't one! All of you, put your weapons down, otherwise...otherwise..."  I sighed, having nothing else to say. What could I do, anyway? Shoot all of them? Run away? 

 

"Just stop this. I've seen my old team shoot at each other. I don't want to have to bandage up your wounds when you ponies inflict them upon yourself." I finished. Thankfully, Steady had already thought of the same idea, and Amber backed down. I could see that Anaphora was trying to keep a straight face when the revolver was mere centimeters away from her, though she still showed signs of fear; her back hoof was trembling and she was trying to step back. 

 

"As far as I know, my friend is probably trying to find a way to get caps off killing me. And I don't have a family. Not anymore. They were the ones that betrayed me, so I ran away from them. At the least, you had your family to lose. I have nothing left of them to mourn, if they even deserved it," Anaphora retorted. She stood back and calmed a bit, but held tightly to her injured hoof. It looked like she had something she didn't want to share...it didn't matter what happened to them; they all suffered from something and were less different then they thought.

 

Noble asked the same question again, and this time, with all the problems temporarily resolved, I finally answered. "I'm sorry what happened with these two. I'm Baryon. The mares are Anaphora and Amber – the former would be the slaver and the latter would be the one with the revolver."

 

"Slut," Anaphora murmured away from Amber's range, loading her pistol and holstering it back. 

 

I ignored her and continued. "So Amber, you mentioned having a cart with food? It looks like it can be very useful for a trip, if we can choose who gets to sit on the cart first," I joked. "I have some bottle caps – looks like ponies here use it as currency of sorts. Anaphora can try to haggle some supplies for us. Our team has finally paid off: a medic, two gun specialists, a 'tradesmare', and a unicorn experienced at magic. That's just my guess, though you have already done a lot of miracles with your horn of yours. Nonetheless, we all have different skills, which means that we compensate for each other's weakness. Seems like a perfect team for me!"

[EcstaticWind 572]

@,

@,  

 

Noble raised an eyebrow at the mention of being the perfect team. Amber and Anaphora were one bad word away from one of them putting a bullet in the other's skull, Steady seemed like a wreck and Noble was more or less an unknown who had to be careful of what he said and did around these ponies.

 

He's certainly optimistic, that's for sure. We need a lot of work if we're going to be a proper team. Well...he said I can perform miracles. 

 

"We know how caps work, sir. Most of us are from the Wasteland or have been here long enough. And I perform miracles with my brain as well as my horn." Noble said before finishing the last of the food Anaphora gave him and placing the empty box in his bag. "Since we're apparently a team, I suggest that we work on the way we operate as team. We may have complimentary skills, but our teamwork could do with improvement. Because poor teamwork gets ponies killed."

[Blacklight 118]

@@Guardian Braveheart, 

Renatus inwardly cringed a bit at Knight's cold response, beginning to second guess telling Knight about his energy problem. Yea...maybe I'll just hold off on telling him for now...He thought as he replied, " Oh, I was just wondering, How long did you say before we reach the next town? Also, is your neck still giving you trouble? Your voice sounded a bit raspy earlier." As he finished he looked away, glancing out upon the empty and desolate Wastes, not a building for miles...or anything else for that matter. Sighing, he thought, I wondered what this would have looked like before the war. He tried to invision it, trees, the occasional wildlife...the sun shining. Where did it all go wrong? 

[Guardian Braveheart 23]

@,

 

"A day or two," I told him calmly, still limping a bit. "Give or take a few hours. We still need to make camp for the night. Hopefully a lost raider as well to feed you for a while as well."

 

I looked up to the road ahead of me. I know this will be a long journey to Regia, but it will all be worth it if we get there.

 

"Still hanging on?" 

[Blacklight 118]

@@Guardian Braveheart, 

Renatus chuckled dryly as his stomach give another soft growl, " Well, good enough I suppose," he lied as he gazed out at the empty expanse, " Well aside from memory loss, lack of food, being part of an endangered species ,assuming there any others left, and clueless about the Wasteland...yea I guess you could say that." Turning back towards Knight, he slowly brought his eyes up to face Knight, subtitling noticed his slight limp. Giving a small smirk he commented, " Though I guess you could say the same for both of us, right?"        

[Lil' Lovebug 1,041]

I cocked my head slightly and let out a chuckle. "Quite the contrary! We are a horible team. A bunch of mediocre ponies who slightly excell in fields others don't and who can't get along to save their own lives, well, that's a horrible team of ponies."

 

I sighed and shook my head. "Now, I'm not saying we can't work all of that out," I put my hoof out in an arc in front of me, "like Nobe said, we need to work it out to survive. That starts with figuring out how to compliment each other's abilities as a team and getting along like one. That starts with Anaphora and Amber," I gestured to both, "apologizing to each other."

 

"... sorry," Amber mumbled.