My eyes blinked open, fluttering rapidly. Everything was blurry and my head was throbbing. I groaned in pain and shifted. "You're awake, how about that." An old mans voice suddenly said. My gaze snapped to my left, my eyes widening.
'Oh shit, how drunk did I get last night? I can't remember anything!' Oh god, how did I manage this. I was in an unfamiliar bed with some strange old man looking at me with a creepy smile. I sat up quickly, my head swimming as my body swayed.
"Woah, easy there. Easy. You've been out cold a couple of days now." He explained, steadying me. "Why don't you just relax a bit, get your bearings. Let's see what the damage is. How about your name, can you tell me your name?" The man asked, eyeing me.
I was still extremely confused and suspicious but I answered anyway. "Anthony." My voice came out hoarse and it hurt my throat. "Huh, can't say thats what I'd have picked for ya. But if that's your name, that's you name. I'm Doc Mitchell. Welcome to Goodsprings." He smiled again making me uncomfortable. I nodded and smiled back hesitantly.
"Now, I hope you don't mind. I had to go rooting through your noggin to pull all the bits of lead out. I take pride in my needlework, but you better tell me if iI left anything out of place." I stared at him confused, not getting at what he was he was talking about. 'Lead? What lead?' I thought as he handed me an odd mirror. I looked at it, seeing my dishevled hair being even more so if that was possible. I ran a hand through it, pushing it back only to see a line of stitching at my hairline. I touched it tentatively, wincing as it stung sharply.
I continued examaning my face, seeing nothing different besides the soon to be scar. I handed Mitchell the mirror back and breathed heavily. "What happened? I can't remember anything other than walking down a road then just black."
"Well Victor, the securitron wandering around here, found you buried in the cemetery. Said he saw some shifty guys up there then a gunshot. He found a makeshift grave with you still in it. Somehow you'd been shot in the head, buried, but still kickin'. You must have some lucky guardian to have survived that." He explained, a bewildered tone to his voice.
Suddenly, memories came flooding back. I remembered the entire thing, up until being shot in the head by that bastard, Benny. I growled quietly before looking up at Doc. "Well thanks for fixing me up Doc. I appreciate it." I smiled for real.
"Nothing I wouldn't have done for anyone else." He replied. "Now why don't you come over to this vigor tester so we can figure out if your brain is still fully functional. I want you to pick the right numbers for the right attribute." I looked at the machine, seeing the words, Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Two joysticks were on the machine front and I moved them to pick the numbers I knew were right.
"Good, at least I got that part right. Now I'm going to need to test you on a few more things and I can let you go. Come with me and sit." He beckoned me into a room with a couch and I sat down. Mitchell sat in an orange chair in front of me, leaning forward. "Alright, now I'm going to say a word, and you're going to say the first thing that comes to mind." I nodded and leaned forward as well, elbows on my knees.
"Dog." I thought for a second replying with, "Cat." Very simple and was really what I thought of. "House." I almost said burglarize, having been quite the thief but responded with, "Shelter." I didn't want the doc turning me in to the NCR. "Night." I hmm'd, moving my hair from my face. "Dream." I finally said. "Bandit." I couldn't stop the words from escaping my mouth and said, "Crush." I blushed heavily and looked away but Mitchell's face remained blank.
He continued with the test. "Light."
"Dark."
"Mother." I almost fliched at the words, being reminded of my moms not so subtle death. "R-regret." I breathed out.
"Hmm, sometimes when you give tests like this you learn more than you was hoping for, and I reckon that ain't always the best thing. But I guess it explains a lot about your predicament." He paused before continuing. "Okay, now I've got a few statements. I want you to tell me what you'd most likely say. Firstly, conflict just ain't in my nature."
I thought for a second, thinking about it. "Um, disagree?" I had been in quite a few fights, enjoying them despite the aftermath. "I ain't giving to relying on others for support." I hate asking for help from others, feeling helpless. "Agree."
"I'm always fixing to be the center of attention." I disliked having people staring at me or crowding me. It was uncomfortable. "Strongly disagree." I stated with a frown. "I'm slow to embrace new ideas."
"No opinion."
"I charge in to deal with my problems head on." I did usually take something on and get it done but I am also prone to being careful. "No opinion I guess." Mitchell nodded and shifted. "Almost done now. Why don't you take a look at this, tell me what you see." He put up a picture on the stand next to him. I studied it, the picture looking like woman standing in a doorway. "A shadow in a doorframe."
"Okay, how 'bout this one." He put another up, pointing a thumb at it. I cursed my dirty mind but responded. "I'm too embarrassed to say." I muttered but he heard me. "Last one." He put the last page up and I examined it. "Um, a bearded man."
"Well that's all she wrote. I got a form for you to fill out, to have a sense of your medical history." He handed me a slip of paper and I filled it out. I handed it back, Mitchell scanning over it. (Imagine the traits Wild Wasteland and Small Frame since I love the first and Chilled is pretty small compared to others. I'm also not gonna mess with the skills thing since this is supposed to be as realistic as I can do.)
"Well I can let you go now, meet me by the front door when you're ready. All the stuff I found on you is there." He pointed to the first room we were in before walking out and down the hall. I wandered into the room, picking up my stuff. I looked around and my thief urges started to kick in. I glanced around the corner, seeing Mitchell occupied by a magazine at the front door.
I grinned and silently swiped everything good before heading down the hall as well. Its a good thing whatever scientists at robco that were making the pip boy managed to input the storage menu that somehow held hundreds of pounds if you scan it with the odd bracelet.
"'Bout time you were done. Are you ready?" I nodded and we talked over a few details until I said my thanks and headed out. The door slammed close behind me and I turned to look over the town. The sun was bright and everything looked white before clearing so I could see a dusty little town. A few farmers were out and a securitron rolled down the road.
'Well then, I better get to work.' I thought, cracking my knuckles.
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Well then, that was that. Yeah, I know Fallout has nothing to do with them but I love fallout and I have a plot line that fits them really well. And my other ideas still need lots of work. So please tell me what you think and I might continue this.
