(I personally think online play would be fun too, I actually still regularly play Fallout: Online. The general temperament of people in an unregulated online community with a player run economy makes for fascinating real life psychology.)
>the implication that there was going to be more radio >that next gen level of customization, they make THE BABY change appearance based on what you and your partner look like >all that concept art... that kid with a spear (FIGHTING CHILDREN, CHILDREN COMPANIONS, CHILD DEATH AGAIN) THAT GHOUL PIRATE >You CAN LEAD BRAHMIN CARAVANS >cross dressing and fursuits >YOU CAN LEAD BRAHMIN CARAVANS AND YOU CAN CROSS DRESS >+2 rads from one molerat bite-- radiation is going to be an actual dangerous thing again >Dog's gotta be related to Dogmeat >Next gen crafting >Next gen STEALTH >NEXT GEN COMPLETELY INTEGRATED SPEECH >rad mosquitoes >rad mosquitoes >rad mosquitoes >rad mosquitoes >rad mosquitoes >rad mosquitoes >probably some other new monsters >rad mosquitoes >RAD >MOSQUITOES >PLUS GRAPPLE ANIMATIONS >Classic fallout designs and motifs coming back >Collectors edition comes with a Pipboy >Literally Fallout Shelter
Fallout 4 is the game of the year already and the best anti-depressant I've ever gotten.
Nel stared blankly at the unfinished painting, "I'm afraid I don't quite get it."
"What is there to get?" Came a reply from a gruff man, a man Nel simply referred to as 'Painter' after an elongated exchange in which she only learned that the man loved painting, waxing philosophical, and performing linguistic gymnastics. He was a curmudgeon; graying, grumpy, and he seemed to have a permanent scowl set upon his thin lips.
He was also the only person currently awake enough to speak to Nel.
The pair sat, along with several other people, in the enclosed back of a re-purposed merchant's coach headed for the border. The man who had been so kind as to pick Nel up was a coyote; one who smuggled citizens into and out of country's for a fee. The people here were criminals, political prisoners-- there were even a few people like her, poor people from any number of the villages dotting the country side who hadn't been accepted as they were. All interesting character, all sought asylum in the lands to the south. Nel wasn't planning on going that far, her stop was the bayou-- the coyote's coal-horses could push right through the swampy muck, making passage with him much more direct.
She'd reach the Blunderbuss Café before midday at this rate-- already, she'd covered more distance in a hours than she had in a whole moon!
Nel tilted her head, squinting in the poorly lit cab, trying to understand the composition of the Painter's brush strokes-- for the life of her, it looked like black butterflymoth droppings! She tried to understand his question-- What is there to get?
"I'm sorry?"
"What are you sorry for?"
Whispering, she parroted his question, "What am I sorry for?"
"That's what I asked wasn't it!" The cab bumped into something, the small oil lamp shook from where it hung, and with the bump, the painter made a harsh diagonal swipe, as if he wished to cut the canvas.
The coyote called back to apologize to everyone for the bumpy conditions of the swamp.
"I suppose you did..." Nel adjusted her sitting position to get a closer look at the black Rorschach mass, "Still. I'm afraid I can't answer your question if I don't very understand what it is you're asking!"
"Can't you?" the old Painter retorted.
"No? I think I'd need clarification to give a good answer."
"Do you know that?" He spoke with a tone an annoyed parent would speak to a child with.
"Sir?"
"Do you know that you need some form of clarification to give answers?" He grunted, another harsh stroke as the coach met more resistance from the swamp.
"If they're to be good answers, I should think so!"
"Do answers need to be good?"
"I'd certainly prefer it if they were."
"Why?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Why do you prefer good answers?"
"Uhm.."
"If you've got the clarification..." His speech slowed as he began to get into the fine details of his painting, "... to lead someone else..." Was that a face he was painting? "... to a good answer... then why not just find the answer yourself?"
Nel thought on the Painter's words for a moment, before an answer to his question shot to her mind, "A different perspective?"
He threw down his brush with a grunt at the answer, before turning to Nel in the cramped quarters, "Do you 'get' my painting?"
"I'm not quite sure there's anything to get, sir."
"Mmm." The Painter nodded.
"It probably means something different to everyone," This got another approving nod from the Painter, "I am a little curious what it means to you, if you don't mind my asking, sir."
"Oh! You don't get off that easy, miss." He gave a mixture of a grimace and a grin, "I asked you first."
Nel took in the black painting once more before answering with "A lover's embrace."
"That's an interesting take," The Painter, who signed his painting Barysheva, he rubbed a hand through his scraggly beard, covering the thing in black paint. No doubt he was contemplating his finished work, he seemed very satisfied. "I was actually just interpreting what I was seeing..."
"Oh?"
"Mhmm!" He clasped calloused hands together, "I was painting you."
Nel followed a path of glowing pleurotus ostreatushe to the café, muck had already began to coat the bottom of her floor-length dress before she'd entered the swamp, with each step, she became more acquainted with the mushy loam. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling to her-- in fact, if she closed her eyes as she moved forward, she could almost picture herself back on the farm, it was just another misty morning after a monsoon... the fertile mud would give rise to lovely greens...
Nel's eyes slowly opened, face to face with some horrid, draconic... thing!
Instinctively, Nel jumped back, wrapping herself around one of the wooden pillars of the suspended café.
The cameldragon yawned in response.
Nel, unconvinced that the creature wouldn't consume her if she got too close, remained with the pillar, several feet away from the door. Was this Kettle's? It couldn't possibly be! It looked like it'd just as soon suck out the bones of a woman her size as it would accompany her as a mount!
Or wait.
Was she thinking of vampirecows? Nel didn't take her eyes off the creature, but her gaze softened. Perhaps she was getting her creatures mixed up again?
Detecting movement, Nel looked to her feet. Climbing up her dress-- or rather, walking vertically, was a mushroom pixie. She didn't shoo it away, and instead watched as the small girl-like fungus confidentially walked up, sat down on her shoulder, and crossed it's legs. These things were considered good luck back home. Taking the presence of the mushroom pixie as a good sign, Nel tentatively walked past the Cameldragon and slowly opened the door into the café.
What she saw filled her with terror unspeakable.
The Skeleton Man.
With eyes wide and skin pale, Nel slammed the door shut and turned away. Whatever Kettle had wanted from her parents, it was not worth dealing with the Skeleton Man again. Mushroom pixie luck was only so strong, and that guy was... too spooky.
@Monochromatic Rainbow It's also the fastest car in Hazzard, is invincible, has infinite gas, and also has an unlimited supply of dynamite tipped arrows.
ABSTRACT: Son of a pair of travelers, daughter of a merchant and a farmer.
INTENT: With a father too sick to make the journey, and a mother that has to stay behind to look after him. Nel is to meet with Kettle, their once good friend, in their place.
Although she is loathe to admit it, a small part of her simply wants to get away from her home town.
FIRST ADVENTURE: Adventure? Nel's spent almost her entire life in her sleepy village, outside of an occasional quiet vacation, or the trips into the city and countryside to sell her wares and crops. Nel's life has been devoid of a lot of excitement-- let alone the harrowing adventures her parents often regale to her. In recent years, it's been a struggle to even find the courage to step outside, considering the ridicule of being considered a "perverted witch." Most of her adventures take place in her head-- within hopes and daydreams...
And also normal night dreams.
HOW DO YOU KNOW KETTLE? Nel... doesn't really know Kettle all that well? They met once or twice, of course, when Nel was much younger, when she was still Len Jr. and her parents were trusted traveling companions of the adventurer-- back before they had settled down. From what Nel can remember of the much younger Kettle, she was certainly... a nice lady? She was always really intense, but every time she came around she always had some neat toy or bauble for Nel, which was always very nice...
Her parents seemed really happy with Kettle around. Nel used to wonder why she stopped coming around, she'd almost forgotten about the scholarly adventurer before her family got the letter.
WHY DID KETTLE PICK YOU? She didn't-- The people she chose were Lenny and Henrietta Stevens, Nel's mother and father. They were once great adventurers, skilled in ways Nel could never be. They gave up that "uncertain life" to settle down on a farm, and build some kind of family-- or at least that's the story her parents feed to her.
For years Nel has suspected that her birth is what ultimately put an end to her parent's travels, and that they resent her for that-- even if that isn't true, Nel does know that her mother resents her for her 'life choices.' Her father, although more accepting, is sick, and perhaps sees this request from an old friend as a way to set his daughter on path in life where she might find a little acceptance.
Or maybe not? Nel doesn't really know. She's just happy to have a reason to leave, life after her... transition hasn't been the most pleasant.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IGNACE? Nel doesn't really know Ignace, so much as she knows of him. She is a great admirer of his work and fosters a hope to meet him someday-- although she knows that desire is futile. She carves small kick-knacks for tourists to buy-- he creates the future and makes immortal the past.
To say he is an idol of hers is an understatement. @TheWildHost
HOW DO YOU KNOW A'SHINOK DURAN? The Praying Lizard Man? Nel has heard many versions of the story, but in each one, the story revolves around a man-sized flying lizard that was journeying from church to church-- her parents, only faithful to the Right of Rosewater and the Dance of Thorns, happened to be the pair to introduce the beast man to their church. Nel thinks the story is entertaining, but wonders if it's even real-- a humanoid lizard warrior with wings visiting all the churches of the world? That sounds just a little absurd! @Experiment 249
HOW DO YOU KNOW LILA? The Spider Lady? Nel's parent's have mentioned her-- once or twice. Apparently they never actually met her, but in keeping abreast with the news of the world, they have heard tales of the 'Spider Centaur Adventurer.' Imagine that! A lady with the bottom half of a spider. Nel once wondered if the two faced similar scorn, despite their completely different... body situations. Nel pictures her as seeming nice. @t2wave
HOW DO YOU KNOW SARANTSATSRAL UIUN PEPLU? Not at all! Nel's parents literally just mentioned that long name on her way out-- they wondered if Kettle was summoning her to, whoever she is, and if she was still alive, whoever she is, and if perhaps she could help with Nel's father's condition. Nel shrugged and told her parents she'd keep an ear open for the name. Wow! What a name it is! @orangebox
HOW DO YOU KNOW CLAVIC? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH(...)HHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(...)!!! @Cinderella Man
kapuchu
