User blog:Psychomantis108/Fallout: Hinterlands - Cold Trail



Winter had long since claimed this land, freezing it to the proverbial bone. The Custody agreement for Persephone had long since fallen through and Demeter took out her ire on this backwards land…

Walking along the cracking femur of road that lead into the base of Canada was a lone traveller, carrying his bone sword, lever action rifle and twin revolvers hugging his waist. Though he wore more clothes than he would normally wear, it was appropriate as the environment demanded it.

The scenery was rather unremarkable, bare trees and a blanket of white across the surrounding fields and into the woodlands.

In the old world, arctic explorers had to wear shades to protect their eyes from the blinding white. No wonder, if it was this fuckin’ boring to look at, their eyes probably died on purpose…

It was a long trek through Canada and Darkwater had no idea where he was going, however, along this avenue of chance, he found himself fortunate.

He observed a figure up ahead, calling out. A dark-skinned man, wrapped up in a number of layers, rattling a metal cup and calling out in every direction. It was obvious that he was not looking at anything directly and was seemingly blind, given how he didn’t see Ellis from afar.

“Penny for the blind!?” He called out, rattling his tin at him, revealing that he had a few caps in there, most likely brought from home.

Ellis found himself stopping, bemused by the travelling beggar.

“For all the blind? Or just you?” He asked, getting the old timer to flinch and slowly look around as if he was trying to figure out where Ellis was stood.

“Erm… Just me, right now but if I meet another blind man, I’ll share the wealth. So erm… Wanna pass me some caps?”

“Sorry, not got anything to spare.” Darkwater shrugged, taking his leave as he wandered straight past the elder, hands gently clutching his belt as he went. However, to his surprise, the Blind Man wasn’t quite finished with him and pleaded his case.

“What about the five hundred caps, you got there? Can’t spare any of them?”

This got Ellis to stop in his tracks, he wasn’t wearing the caps openly. The amount was exact as well, something that made him stiffen upon hearing it.

With little warning, he turned around and drew his revolver, pointing it at the old timer’s head, with his finger wrapped around the trigger. It remained still and immovable, locked on, like the extremity of a robot.

“Who sent you after me?” He demanded, figuring he was some sort of agent, sent to undermine him. Perhaps he was just bait, so that the others could align their shot or perhaps…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Wh-Wait son! You got it all wrong! I ain’t ‘after’ you or anything like that! I… I got the sight, see?”

<p class="MsoNormal">Ellis narrowed his eyes, not entirely sure what this old coot was on about but he was tempted to just pull the trigger and be done with it.

<p class="MsoNormal">“So you fake being blind? For what gain?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Nah Sir, it isn’t like that! Look, I was never able to see as you do but I was able to see! I see… Things! Things that have happened, that’re happening now, what will happen sometimes. I can read people, see the entirety of ‘em, just by looking!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“When you saw me, you saw caps?” Ellis asked, wondering if he should be insulted by that. This prompted the elder to shrug as he dumped his cup into his knapsack.

<p class="MsoNormal">“N-No… I saw a girl, with green hair. She asked you to find Jessica, wanted her found so bad, she gave you 500 caps up front and promised 500 on return. You look for her, though you ain’t the only one! She finds herself a prize in a game she doesn’t know she’s playing and it’s only a matter of time, until one of its three contestants claims victory.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“What’re… What’re you talking about?” Ellis asked, not having a clue at this point. The man’s cryptic horseplay was starting to make his trigger finger itchy. It was a long time since he’d desired to shoot someone out of sheer annoyance but he was hardly above it now.

<p class="MsoNormal">The Blind Man shrugged, slipping his hands into his coat pockets and sighing, the mist forming on his breath fluttered past Ellis, who continued to stare, intently.

<p class="MsoNormal">“There was a… Another gentleman. He came through here, he stopped by like you did and I did something I don’t like to do. Somethin’ I should never do.” The Elder paused, glancing down to the floor.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I passed judgement, which is… For someone of my talents, kind of, an abuse of said talents. So erm… Talking about this is, a bit of a sore subject for me, my friend.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, better having a sore subject, than a sore leg.” Ellis shrugged, growing a bit tired of this stalling. He was losing daylight and the sun was setting.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Simmer down, boy! I’m not holding out on you, I just… I wanna go back to my shack, so I don’t have to bare my soul, out here in the cold!” The Beggar protested, prompting Ellis to furrow his brow and slowly lower his gun.

<p class="MsoNormal">“O-Oh…” He added, finding himself a bit put out now.

<p class="MsoNormal">“How far?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Just by those trees over yonder.” The Old Man shrugged, gesturing behind him before turning and shuffling into the snowy field.

<p class="MsoNormal">“C’mon! I got coffee!” <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .75pt; padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">Figuring this was the closest thing he had to a lead, Ellis stepped down, into the field and tailed the Blind fool, hoping that this sight thing, he was going on about wasn’t just a load of nonsense, designed to lure him into a trap of wasted time. <p class="MsoNormal">The shack was just as pitiful as its owner. Dirty windows, covered in grime and snow.

<p class="MsoNormal">The wood holding it up was damp and probably a conglomeration of termites, waiting to happen. The metal was rustic, dented and weak to begin with and the tattered wooden door let the wind in, through the many gaps left, due to its shoddy craftsmanship.

<p class="MsoNormal">It was… Quaint.

<p class="MsoNormal">After filling the kettle with water, the Elder pulled up a crate, that once sheltered some canned coffee but was now a glorified stool.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Ah…” He seemed quite content with his lot, even though he wasn’t exactly sitting on a stockpile here. He could always be worse off, especially out in the wastes…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Honestly… coffee beans, growing out in the tropical countries? If that’s not the proof that there is a God and that God is an asshole? I don’t know what is.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Ellis would counter it, with the fact that they are living in a frozen, radioactive hell hole but he was never one to care for philosophy. The only universal questions that he wanted answering was the location of a certain green haired girl, named Jessica.

<p class="MsoNormal">Everything else was transitory as far as he was concerned.

<p class="MsoNormal">“The Girl.” He said, cutting through the Elder’s rhetoric before ‘what is beauty?’ came up on his itinerary.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Right, I was just… Look, I haven’t seen her. I mean, obviously but it wasn’t her that I encountered. It was this… other fella, blonde guy, went by the name ‘Dylan.’”

<p class="MsoNormal">“The guy you judged?” Ellis found himself asking, it seemed to be the case that this Blind prophet took that part of the story seriously. Ellis kind of got it but it didn’t mean that he cared.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, immediately, he passes me by and… I read him.” The Elder found himself taking a sip of drink before wrapping his hands around the metallic cup.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I see a man, with his woman. Green hair, living rough as I do.” The Seer began, adjusting himself on the crate.

<p class="MsoNormal">“They had a dream, real… Rags to riches. They sought to rob the bank, in Union City, cash in on caps and flee west to start a new life.

<p class="MsoNormal">It was during the execution of this plan that, young Dylan sees it all shatter before his eyes. A well placed buck at the heat of the moment and his girl screams, nursing a snapped radius and ulna, wrapped in seared flesh.

<p class="MsoNormal">His child and his wife, lay, bleedin’ out in the middle of a firefight. He’s got enough caps to start again but he’d do it alone. Dylan doesn’t just flee the scene, it’s a tactical choice. He deems Az expendable, something he could get another of, especially now he was rich enough.

<p class="MsoNormal">So he left her, screaming out for him, in a sheer state of panic. His mentor and gang members left too, fleeing into the city.” He eventually sighed, curling up in defeat as if he felt the shame of Dylan’s actions himself.

<p class="MsoNormal">Somewhat understandable, if he experienced them from Dylan’s perspective…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Hmm… That would explain her mechanical arm.” The Bounty Hunter commented, falling silent.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Doesn’t sound like much of a man, if he leaves his wife and kid to die like that.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s what I thought.” The Blind Man shrugged, picking up a bottle of beer, that he had to feel around a bit for. He took a sip and sighed, reflecting on his memories of what he read.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I say ‘you sir, are an asshole!’”

<p class="MsoNormal">This got a small smirk out of Ellis, though he didn’t audibly laugh. Still the Seer could sense his amusement.

<p class="MsoNormal">“How’d he take it?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Erm… He was confused, he wondered why he was an asshole, so I told him, though my confidence was waning admittedly. This was the worst time for it really as he got real angry, grabbed my shoulders and shook me. I thought my big mouth had finally gotten me killed but at that moment, I saw her… Jessica! She was in the arms of a red head, a wild card from Dylan’s past.

<p class="MsoNormal">I blurt it out, hoping he’ll leave me alone and he goes into shock, he don’t speak for a minute and then he gets frantic.

<p class="MsoNormal">‘The fuck do you mean, alive!?’ He says.” The Beggar conveyed this by doing as close of a voice as possible to Dylan’s. Needless to say, he wasn’t a great actor. Hell, even Galaxy News Radio would reject that line read but it gave Darkwater some clue as to the notes he should be taking.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I had to tell him, everything and he gets back on his wagon and rides off! Heading for the ski lodge, where they stay.

<p class="MsoNormal">Now, I ain’t a betting man but I think he wants Jessica back for… something.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“He seeks redemption?” Ellis suggested, though his impoverished friend shook his head.

<p class="MsoNormal">“N-No… I don’t think so, his feelings were, not human feelings, one would have for your daughter. I didn’t want to explore them.

<p class="MsoNormal">You know what they about the abyss right? It goes double for a man like me…”

<p class="MsoNormal">Ellis was somewhat sure as to what he meant, though he didn’t entirely understand it. He’d seen the most depraved of men in his time and was never compromised.

<p class="MsoNormal">Mind you, he preferred to avoid anything that wasn’t profitable most of the time. Work was work and business was good. To mix business with ethics was… ridiculous.

<p class="MsoNormal">Not that he’d take any job, of course. Some might damage his reputation. His true success was distinguishing himself as a highly skilled agent, rather than a common knuckle dragging thug for hire.

<p class="MsoNormal">“So… This erm… Ski lodge? Could you point me to it?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I can, though I would appreciate some caps in return, given that I’ve done your job for you.” The Seer shrugged, prompting Ellis to shrug. This seemed fair and this man was very knowledgeable about things from Darkwater’s perspective and this… ‘Dylan’ characters’.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Sure, how does ten sound?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Pfft… One percent? I guess it’ll do…” The Blind Beggar sighed, shaking his head. <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">“You need to a little further to the west before trekking north…” <p class="MsoNormal">After some rather indepth instructions, Darkwater placed the ‘ten’ caps in his hand. Of course, the old man couldn’t see the actual amount he’d put in and had to skim them with his fingers. He seemed surprised by Ellis’ attempt to trick him, though quickly wrapped his hand around them and pocketed them.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Pleasure doing business with you, Mr Darkwater.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Indeed it was, all that info only cost him fifteen caps, if he moved quickly, the hardest part of his job was done.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Don’t suppose you can tell me what waits for me, in the future.” Ellis asked, rising to his feet and placing his hands on his belt. It just happened natural to him, being a gunslinger and all.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You sir? No… Too many variables and possibilities. Too many outcomes, not enough that I can focus on. You’re too erm… Bright to focus on, I’m afraid.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Ellis paused, taking the compliment of ‘bright’ as the best he could’ve hoped to get from that.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Alright, you take care and erm… keep that mouth of yours shut, next time a man like Dylan walks by.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Heh… Never my friend.” The Elder said, with a faint smirk.

<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s called getting old, thankfully you won’t have to worry about it, in your line of work.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“You see that in your sight, old man?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Nah… Don’t need the sight to know that.”