Welcome To New Vegas

Ode To The Body

Victory stood in front of herself. A reflection in the bodymirror, completely naked. An afternoon ritual while she got dressed, really. She stared at every feature her body had to offer, her pale skin from being indoors so much gave way to soft tan freckles that littered her shoulders, arms, hips, and legs. She noticed how skinny she was, her ribs slightly were more.... prominent. 'Was I always like this?' She wondered in her mind. Lucky observed her carefully, he hopped off the bed and stared at himself in the mirror before losing interest and wandering off.

Victory stayed behind, for some reason she wanted to be bare for a little longer. The only time she felt safe was when she was with herself. Naked. No clothes or walls to hide herself.. hiding took energy and being like this was... energizing. She never knew why.. She played with her hair, eyes half closed in idle thought. The only time she could think was when she was with herself. Her chest rose and fell with her every breath, she thought about how there was a slight breeze today. Maybe there would be rain in a few days, perhaps she should tell Yes Man to open the flash flood pipe systems outside the walls, just in case. Yes Man... She thought, she found herself sitting now in front of the mirror. She melted to the floor it felt and seemed in her reflection as she reflected.

Yes Man, the thought echoed again. What were her thoughts on him? In the beginning she did not like him, not because of what happened to House and vegas, but rather he was a new change. She didn't fancy change... change brought danger, change brought chaos she learned.. Change was frightening almost. It brought too many variables.. Then there was the fact they were different too, she wanted the safe route, he wanted best results. Not that she did not want results but she wanted predictable results. He was so.... so much of a Wildcard. Unpredictable yet so predictable. 'But what about now?' She thought.

Now she viewed Yes Man as a part of her life, its already been three years after all. Vegas is more prosperous than before, and not to mention the Mojave. Most to every town had access to power which gave clean water and resources. Raiders and outlaws are only heard of in the bowels of the desert. Law is established and soon even Education, she convinced Yes Man it would be important and he agreed. But it will take a while and the first school will be set up in Freeside, hopefully more people will be able to read and write, be more independent. That's how she viewed it and Yes Man agreed. Come to think of it, Yes Man agreed to her quite often, yet when others tried to convince him of their ideas how things should be done it was never to rarely accepted. Well, it was mostly the three families that came to him asking for ridiculous things...

A sudden realization came to her just then and she stopped playing with her hair. She was like an assistant mayor, and Yes Man being head Mayor.. Perhaps he didn't really listen to others ideas was because they didn't have much office status? Or was it also perhaps she and Yes Man thought more alike than she realized? Come to think of it they were a lot alike... their world's were so small, he was left in a room and she locked in this casino for a majority of her life... A pang of jealousy rang through her chest..

Yes Man welcomed change and was far more braver than she... Maybe because he's far more naïve than she is and she'd rather not hang outside her little world for too long. She liked her little world... She had.... control. She knew what was going on at all times and enjoyed it that way. She liked her walls and guards, metaphorically and literally. Yet why couldn't she shake this jealousy? She decided to shove the feeling away like spoiled meat.

"Enough thinking for today. Time for bed..." She said aloud and got into comfortable clothes and turned off her light to slumber in dreamless rest. Except, she did have s dream, for the first time...

She had a dream about her body mirror, broken at her feet. She was naked again but her body was.... blurred. Like smudged art..

"Victory?" A distant voice called. A woman's voice far away in the black abyss, Victory tired to walk yet she walked in place. She tried to run, she stayed in place.

"Yes?! I'm trying to come to you!" Victory cried out to the woman's voice. She looked up and saw the moon cracking.

"Victory?.... You are so beautiful when you are bare.." the moon spoke to her. She knew this voice. Victory knew this voice and felt tears  in her eyes. She was never to cry, crying was a sign of weakness according to House but in this dreamworld she had no choice. Her blurry body stood still as she stared at the moon.

"Mother?" Victory asked the moon. But the moon did not answer. The crack on her face showed with spinning pain... "Mother?.... I'm afraid." She said to the moon and fell to her knees to only wake up to the sound of her alarm... To forget the dream ever happened.

Victory felt for her body, solid as it has ever been. What was she dreaming about? Why does she feel so.... longing? Never the less... It was time for the daily grind and report, so she got up, and got dressed without another thought.