ATIYATHESEEKER'S PROFILE

Cimmerian

Chapter Eleven: That Was Then, This Is Now

November 13th: Late Evening
Been almost two weeks since I last slapped a holotape into the Pip-Boy and recorded anything. I--

*Dogmeat barks from afar*

Hang on, boy. I need to say something things. Heel.

...okay. So. With a few misadventures out of the way, which I'm going to skip, I've finally made it to Diamond City. Been hearing good things about this place all about, let alone having tuned into the radio. It's amazing. Whole place is built into a ballpark and everything. Even some wacko dressed in a stitched-up baseball uniform, selling "swattas". That dude Moe thinks baseball was all about clubbing the opposing team to death with baseball bats. Things were pretty fucked in America at the time, but bloodsports? C'mon. We weren't that bad.

Though at this rate, that may be up my alley by now. Gunning down raiders and these huge green men called Super Mutants? I'm plenty jaded to killing now. It's become too easy to draw the 10-mil or whatever and blow them away, let alone sneaking up to get a good opening shot. I find I can take out the first guy before anyone else arrives guns blazing.

Part of me wonders if I've changed for the worst. Part of me agrees that I had. The rest of me is just glad to be alive, and glad that awful people can't hurt anyone else any longer. None of this will change any time soon.

*long pause*

...so what happens when I find my son? What happens when he's raised without a father? How do I hold him in hands so drenched in blood? And what happens if something happens to either of us, huh? The remnants of Boston, not even Sanctuary Hills, aren't a safe place.

*sigh* I'll cross that bridge when I get there, I guess. I know there'll be more blood before this is all over. There's this machine-building lunatic called the Mechanist at large. An assaultron -- this person-shaped death machine -- named Ada was the sole survivor of an attack by the Mechanist's bots. If I'm to stop any more bloodshed from those killer machines, I'll need to track down... Christ, robobrains. I'd never heard of anything like them before, but they, like... okay. Who the fuck uses a human brain as the CPU for a fucking robot? Seriously!

Apparently, old daddy dearest may've had something to do with them. I saw the RobCo logo etched onto the plating of those mad scientists' inventions. Ada and I had tracked a beacon from the Mechanist down at an old Wattz Electronic factory. Shame to say I didn't find a laser pistol therein their 1000 line, but... well. If I have the caps later on, I've got an even scarier energy weapon in store to buy from the general store at Diamond City. Heheh.

Which brings us back to Diamond City. Some chick named Piper, hated for writing provoking newspapers, helped lead me to an investigator. Turns out the PI, Nick Valentine, had gone missing. Also turns out that the Minutemen aren't the only out-of-time faction around these parts. Old-school mobsters in pressed suits with tommy guns stood between me and saving Nick, who got duped into a femme fatale's trap. Among all of Skinny Malone's closest bodyguards -- Nick's old enemy with an ironic nickname -- that bitch with the bat hit the floor dying first. Me and my trusty ol' Sanctuary Special made it so.

...when we got back to Nick's office, we went over everything I knew from the kidnapping of Shaun. The murder of Nate. I thought there this Institute that everyone yaps about was a bogeyman enough. But this guy's name that matches... fuck, my husband's killer has to be him!

Kellogg. That cold merc with a grating voice that rasped deep into me. Professional-like, but without any known buyers. Leathers, scar, scruffy face. All of his enemies dead, and allegedly loves big fuck-off weapons.

All of his enemies except one. Yer talking to her.

Even if the mayor was useless, his secretary found it in her heart to give me Kellogg's key. He had a house in the ballpark that got seized. I seized not only some stims he had in a secret room in his shack, but also a cigar. With the help of a dog I've barely called a friend, we're getting Shaun back. Kellogg is dead meat.

*panting from Dogmeat*

Yeah, you. Who's a good sniffy doggo? Who's gonna help me track down a motherfucker? You!

...I didn't think I'd be strong enough to survive this world turned upside-down. I didn't think I'd have the strength to carry on after Nate was murdered and Shaun was taken. I'd have thought I'd die numerous times. And I never thought I'd become as reckless -- some might say ruthless -- in avenging and protecting folk who didn't serve any of the shit they've suffered.

That was then. This is now.

Hey hey! Welcome back to the fold, Ceci! And congrats on your first game too. Not sure if I'd met you before, but it's a pleasure to meetcha now, gal. <3

Speaking of Fallout, there was that one defunct film adaptation of the original movie. As it was the 90s, you can imagine they took some liberties on the game versus the movie. I mean, to the levels of Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil's movies. I know they're supposedly working on a show series on Amazon, but news on that has also been up in the air last I checked.

Honestly, as it's been considered "the cinematic RPG" by some, why not Parasite Eve? Set it back in its original date due to 90s nostalgia, get some awesome special effects for Parasite Energy powers and mitochondria monsters without it being too campy (or keeping the camp for aesthetic), and throw some cinematic gunplay in there. Just like... don't make the mention of the word "mitochondria" into a fatal drinking game, okay?

Maybe Aya's Heal powers could manifest as a grazing wound seeming to disappear the next day. Maybe she can Liberate against Eve in their big fight. I'd prefer they stick to the story outside of the EX Game and its procedurally-generated megadungeon, but could keep the glowing Chrysler Building as a cameo like it is in the main game. The normal ending is already a zinger, heheh.

My condolences. I'd lost a coworker to suicide after his mother died, so I understand the feeling. Damn, not even thirty; she's much too young to die, and her absence being a void is a valid way to describe it.

If you knew her well enough, perhaps you could go to her wake if anything, if it hasn't happened already? Considering a good chunk of her next of kin work at your place, it's an option.