The Alpha Bet
The Alpha Bet
Arcade Gannon, Craig Boone, the Courier
A History is Four Acts
Dramatis personæs
Arcade Gannon
He lived off black coffee and cigarettes. This morning, before the sun had crested the concrete littered horizon, he wondered why. They were a group that was lambasted by the NCR They had no problems sending their troops to the Fort for repairs, but it came to pushing and shoving, the Followers were just another yet-to-be-assimilated tribe to the Bear.
Arcade didn't know why some of the Followers were there. Honest hope for the Wasteland? He doubted the naivety of his peers ran that deep. Perhaps, and this seemed most likely, they were all attempting atonement. He knew he was.
"Little Lion Man" Mumford and Sons
Weep for yourself, my man,
You'll never be what is in your heart
Weep, little lion man,
You're not as brave as you were at the start
Rate yourself and rake yourself
Take all the courage you have left
Wasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head
He dreamed about Navarro. Radios crackled, and static took over the faces of the few that were left. He woke in sweats. His thin shirt clung to him in a clammy embrace. The first few months living at the Fort, he had spirited away a few doses of Steady.
Shaking hands did not a doctor make.
He quickly adjusted and acquiesced to his status of nameless outlaw. The torn flesh and bruised organs that Fort saw were far from the damages of the Enclave, but he saw them as the same. Every Freeside junkie healed, was yet another sin atoned.
"Remain Nameless" Florence + the Machine
I was born in a big grey cloud
Screaming out a love song
All the broken chords and unnamed cries
What a place to come from
I wish to remain nameless
And live without shame
'Cause what's in a name, oh
I still remain the same
Now, it was just an old break. The fracture line could be seen in the x-rays were taken. In his daily life, his past was hidden behind his condescendingly raised eyebrows and glinting glasses. Julie poked in between his ribs when the space between himself and the other Followers became too wide.
He's groan, tell her to keep his hands to herself, and kiss her forehead.
He considered himself damned and damaged, but this old structure, a place of outreach, was all he had. As much as he attempted to heal others, he knew that Followers attempted to heal him.
"Until it Breaks" Linkin Park
My momma taught me words, my daddy built rockets
I hold 'em both together now, tell me what I got
It's a pretty smart weapon, I can shoot it, I can drop it
But learn to respect it 'cause you clearly can't stop it
Craig Boone
He lay on his belly, knee cocked out away from his body. The scope hovered just millimeters from his orbital bone. The bighorner moved slowly yards away. He could see each matted hair flick in the dry California wind. The creature's mouth opened, and he could almost hear its low moan.
The bull's neck bloomed out to the plains behind it. Craig, though, only saw the bullet's pinprick. Dull animal eyes scanned a dimming horizon before it lowed again. It stumbled, then fell.
Craig hitched his rifle onto his back. Bowie knife in hand, he stalked towards next week's dinner.
"I'm Not Afraid" Lacuna Coil
Watch your back
Because I am coming closer
Shivers down your spine
You were not expecting me
How does it feel to be faced in your territory?
Are you afraid to see me here?
I'm not afraid
To take my time, to live my life
The way I want to
It was the closest thing to being a hero that a boy from the Republic's sticks could hope for. He held no illusions of being a general. Hell, not even a lieutenant. But he could put a bullet through the eye of a legionaire with any rifle the quartermaster could throw at him. He'd proven that time and time again which allowed him to wear the beret with pride. Paired with Manny, Cottonwood Cove would soon be only the fond memory of a fine humid red mist.
He might not be a hero, but he was a damn fine soldier.
"I Will Not Bow" Breaking Benjamin
I don't want to change the world
I just wanna leave it colder
Light the fuse and burn it up
Take the path that leads to nowhere
All is lost again
But I'm not giving in
I will not bow
I will not break
I will shut the world away
I will not fall
I will not fade
I will take your breath away
The anger was consuming. The despair was crushing. Carla had let him be something other than a soldier in ways Manny never had. Without her, he had forgotten how which only made his sadness foreign.
He focused on the rage. It fueled everything from impartially picking off Legion, to the growing loathing of Manny. Even as he danced that killing edge, he knew it wasn't his former partner who had sold his wife. But he didn't know who in this god forsaken town had.
And that not knowing caused the rage to fester, grow. Caused it to morph into vengeance.
"Murder" Within Temptation
I'm killing them all
I put my soul on the line
I purify sins
That I committed in life
I'll follow them all
And I'll be bringing them down
Wherever they go
I'm right behind
There's nowhere to go
Your head on the line
There is no rope
You're running out of time
So where will you go
When I will murder your soul
The Courier
He made it a point to never stick around long enough for people to start asking for his name. There were a handful of people across the wastes who knew he hung his hats and suits at The Tops, and even less who could call him by his last name. But he preferred it that way.
Why bother with his own baggage when he could just be Courier Six? The Mojave Express let him swing into town and sweep gorgeous cats off their feet. Forget the East. Forget the West. Just be the in-between. Baby, that was really the tops.
"Rogue" The Correspondents
A man of such elegance and grace
A man so clearly born of perfect taste
The cut of his suit the knit of his tie
Stitch by stitch to please the eye
The best of every garment money can by
All t his to hide the fact that he's a rogue
Yes he's a rogue don't be deceived
His actions are to be seen to be believed
Girls or boys its all the same
Your wife your son he has no shame
He'll catch your eye
Adjust his tie
Draw you in with a flick of a grin
Being a Chairman kept him in great digs and nominally protected. But he knew the score. Benny got to The Tops by stabbing Bingo and that sly sheik would gut anybody else to stay there -- personal courier pigeon or not.
They presented a united front against the other Three Families, but inside, the debts and the would-you-kindlys piled higher than a whale's chips.
A man could never pay it off. They all knew, after all, the game was rigged from the start. The house always won. But being a Courier? Gave a fella a bit of a running start.
"Atlantic City" Bruce Springsteen
Now there's trouble busin' in from outta state and the D.A. can't get no relief
Gonna be a rumble out on the promenade and the gamblin' commissions hangin' on by the skin of its teeth
Everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty and meet me tonight in Atlantic City
The heat was too oppressive. The fan lopping across his vision was missing a blade.
"You're up, good," said a voice. "Welcome to Goodsprings."
He'd never wished for anything more than a shallow grave, but he couldn't remember why. All the knowledge, the feelings were there, but the edges of memories were frayed and checkered like a bad suit.
Trudy said he shot like a city boy. He should stick around. Fix her radio. But he said he had to leave. And so he did while everyone could only remember him as the Courier shot in the head near Goodsprings.
"O Children" Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Pass me that lovely little gun
My dear, my darling one
The cleaners are coming, one by one
You don't even want to let them start
They are knocking now upon your door
They measure the room, they know the score
They're mopping up the butcher's floor
Of your broken little hearts
Setting
The Mojave Wasteland
How many years had it been? Too many. Too many for the fires to still be smoldering. Instead of ditches, smoke was sent skywards from steel drums. The atomic fire didn't leave ashes. Naked, exposed frames. Overturned and charred couches. Shattered mirrors and broken teddy bears. Ash followed cleansing flames. The winds would brush away soot and start anew. But atomic fire disfigured. Just as it ripped away the flesh from men, it exposed the pitted and damaged interior of the Mojave. It had been two hundred and four years. Long enough to extinguish them, yet the fires still burned.
"The Last Pale Light of the West" Ben Nichols
In my hands I hold the ashes
In my veins Black pitch runs
In my chest The fire catches
In my way A setting sun
Dark clouds Gather round me
To the West My soul is bound
But I will go On ahead free
There is a light Yet to be found
And I ask For no redemption
In this cold And barren place
Still I see A faint reflection
And so by it Guide my way
A Brewing of Storms
The skies were never clear. Something was always hanging; always overcast. The horizons crackled with heat lightening and neon lights. But it never rained. The storm clouds were old world poison and guilt. The thunder was the staccato beat of shells crashing on mountain ranges. Though the Great War had come and gone, the nation which held so many others within her borders had yet to know peace. Tensions brewed on the radios. Casings, not rain, fell. And there was no center, no eye of the storm. There was no cover to be taken. There was only the oncoming deluge.
"Mean Low Water" 65Daysofstatic
instrumental
A Gathering of Ghosts
No one ever spoke of hauntings, but everyone had seen plenty of ghosts. Computers held the last silent moments before the bombs. In black and green, they stoically report those few living moments after. Failed VaulTec and RobCo experiments, classified NCR missions, Legion rhetoric: all failures. All recorded. Ghouls, feral and sentient, shambled along broken and buckled asphalt, replaying lives they used to know. Everything borrowed. Nothing new. The Old World Blues were the major chords of every hip new thing. There were no hip new things. No one ever spoke of hauntings, but everyone had seen plenty of ghosts.
"A Poor Man's Memory" Explosions in the Sky
instrumental
ACT I
Scene One: The Courier Finds Nipton
He needed to get to Primm. Get to the Mojave Express. The safest way to meet raiders was to cut straight across the wastes, so he followed the Long 15 through Nipton.
It was the smell. It didn't smell like fear. Just piss and waste and rot and the scum that grew on the underside of rocks in Lake Mead.
He loaded a bullet in the chamber for each one. Shot each man down from his crucifix. One shot, one kill. One for the pain. One for sleep.
Finally, the Fox let him pass.
But he knew all flags fell.
"Invalid Litter Dept." At The Drive-In
they had been defected and excommunicated
and all the pulses were subverted
and they made sure the obituaries
showed pictures of smoke stacks
a vivid dissection that mocked
the strut of vivisection
semi-automatic colonies
and a silencing that still walks the streets
in the company of wolves
was a stretcher made of
cobblestone curfews
the federales performed
their custodial customs quite well
Scene Two: The Old Mormon Fort
The Courier spotted him immediately, tall, blond. As the doctor held the Rad-X drip, old habits refused to die.
"I know I'm the one that's supposed to be irradiated, but, baby, your eyes have got a glow."
He grinned his imperfect and crooked smile and knew that eye roll for what it was. Intravenous needle still stuck in his hand, the Courier reached for the other man's knee.
"Heard the lady doc say you were into research. Got a couple of tricks I could show you."
He gave a small squeeze, and his heart pumped radioactive blood to his cheeks.
"Tightrope" Walk the Moon
Careful now, with my head
I said careful now, what you do to my head
Make your mind up, make your little mind up
To each his own, each his or her own oh, oh, oh,
But oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, this heart is burning up
I said oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, this heart is burning up
"Overt flirtation will get you everywhere, you know." Arcade shook his head. "My work is at a standstill here." He took the plunge. "Where are we going?"
The Courier laughed and stretched each vertebrae to its full length to kiss Arcade, gently, sweetly, on the lips. Surprise pulled the doctor away.
"You'll pull your stitches," Arcade chided pointedly towards the puncture wound from a cazadore's stinger. Deftly, he injected Med-X into the hanging bag. The Courier chuckled as he drifted toward unconsciousness. He muttered 'you're trixy.'
When Arcade said he was leaving, Julie didn't seem surprised, but instead rather pleased.
"Rebel Prince" Rufus Wainwright
Where is my master the rebel prince
Who will shut all of these windows
It's these windows all around me
It's these windows who are telling me
To rid my dirty mind of all of its preciousness
Where is my master the rebel prince
Bet breaking everything trying to get to me
In this two-bit hotel
Just to me before this windowsill
Scene Three: Travel
The shack had a working door and its entire roof. That was enough for the Courier to dump his bedroll in one corner and call it a night. Arcade folded his glasses meticulously and tucked them into the Courier's hat before sliding into their nightly embrace.
"This," Arcade mused, "is little more than a five cap romance halotape."
The Courier linked together their fingers. "I'm flattered. I'd've guessed three."
"I was being generous."
They both laughed.
They kissed. Hot breathes searched for hidden passageways and silent assurances that they would continue to witness each other's messages and patch their wounds.
"Slow Love Slow" Nightwish
This deep sigh coiled around my chest
Intoxicated by a major chord
I wonder
Do I love you or the thought of you?
Slow, love, slow
Only the weak are not lonely
Southern blue, morning dew
Let-down-your-guards, I-love-you's
Ice-cream castles, lips-to-ear rhymes
A slumber deeper than time
Scene Four: Novac
The Courier's boot's had blood on them from Jeanie Mae's skull. Inside the dinosaur's mouth, he showed Boone the bill of sale and said he was sorry. "Now what will you do?"
"I don't know. I have nothing here."
The Courier regarded the young man with the simultaneously strong and gaunt face. "I'm not from here," he finally said.
Boone's expression was void.
The Courier continued. "I'm going to New Vegas to kill the man who shot me and buried me alive."
Still no visual response from Boone.
"It'll be mutual," The Courier explained. "I'm going to need a spotter."
"Hurricane" 30 Seconds to Mars ft. Kayne West
Tell me would you kill to save a life?
Tell me would you kill to prove you're right?
Crash, crash, burn, let it all burn
This hurricane's chasing us all underground
No matter how many deaths that I die I will never forget
No matter how many lives I live, I will never regret
There is a fire inside of this heart and a riot about to explode into flames
Where is your God?
The riot inside keeps trying to visit me
No matter how we try, it's too much history
Too many bad notes playing in our symphony
So, let it breathe, let it fly, let it go
"Splendid," Arcade groaned. "We are now adding up to that of a small gang." When the Courier left Novac with the sniper in tow, Arcade was surprised despite himself. He had not expected intimate nights ad nauseum. No, he expected to be replaced. Just not so quickly.
Not that he blamed the Courier. This NCR soldier boy was cut from stone. Body and, disappointingly, personality both.
It the Courier needed someone to praise the feted republic during climax, he was not judging. But Arcade had been fucked by the NCR enough in his life already. He didn't need another round.
"Leeds United" Amanda Palmer
It's so polite, it's so polite
It's offensive, it's offensive
It's so unright, it's so unright
It's a technical, accept it
But who needs love when there's law and order
And who needs love when there's Southern Comfort
And who needs love at all
We stalk you your expert double X's
We oxidize you in your sleep
There's no exit, there's no exit
You're on a roll, you're on a roll
No one gets it, no one gets it
Your honor, no, your honor
Can't you protect us, protect us
ACT II
Scene One: Jacobstown
Arcade had subtly made himself scarce when the Courier introduced himself to Doc Henry. The untamable sexual tension between the trio had been bad enough. He didn't need the doctor asking how his life as a genealogical war criminal was fairing.
While his covert bandaging skills were subpar, his ability to stay unseen was working well. Until the Courier, coffee mug in hand, cornered him.
"What's up?" he said.
"Nothing." Arcade responded.
"Liar."
"It's just --" Uncharacteristically Arcade scrambled for words. "Before I met you -- I -- well --I'm related to some --"
The Courier cut him off. "Forget it. That was before."
"A Dark Congregation" The Hush Sound
A dark congregation of familiar faces gathered around the quiet earth
A red rose fell upon the soft snow, prayers were whispered so slow from our mouths
Our breath rose in the cold like a hundred souls escaping
Save me, I am swallowed by the guilt of this
You're gone, sleeping in the dust
We will not let time erase us
We are surrounded by all of the quiet sleepers inside the quiet earth
A fear that I cannot shape - you dared to kiss the face of the night
Our lips were cold as clay, we couldn't speak anyway
Save me, I am swallowed by the guilt of this
Scene Two: After a Cave of Nightstalkers
Sitting on the corner of his bed, Arcade messaged his foot. He had been mulling over the Courier's words while they, Boone included, cleaned out a cave of nightstalkers and had stupidly twisted his ankle.
Suddenly, the door slapped against the wall. It was Boone.
"What are you --" Boone knelt in front of Arcade "-- doing here?"
Boone grunted. "Your foot."
"You know, I am a doctor."
"Not very good then."
Calloused hands manipulating the small bones in Arcade's foot made him flush. Fingers inched up his calf.
"It's not my whole leg." Arcade breathed.
Boone just ordered him to shut up.
"A Strange Desire" The Black Keys
I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you,
And a young man's,
Gonna make mistakes,
Till he hits the brakes,
My heart's on fire,
With a strange desire,
All those birds,
On the wire,
Are gonna say I'm a liar,
But we all know,
In the end,
They never were my friend
Boone was standing to leave Arcade's room on their last night in Jacobstown. "You know," Arcade said. "It's --"
"No," snapped Boone. "I don't know. And it's not."
Boone's hand was on the doorknob. Now Arcade snapped. "Wait." Boone didn't responded but he did stop. "I don't know your past," said Arcade. "And you don't know mine. But we're together now." A grunt. "With the Courier. All I know is that you put a bullet through the woman who sold your wife. I'm not her, your wife. And I don't want to be. Let me be me, Arcade. So stay."
And Boone did.
"Savior" Rise Against
It kills me not to know this but I've all but just forgotten
What the color of her eyes were and her scars or how she got them
As the telling signs of age rain down a single tear is dropping
Through the valleys of an aging face that this world has forgotten
There is no reconciliation that will put me in my place
And there is no time like the present to drink these draining seconds
But seldom do these words ring true when I'm constantly failing you
Like walls that we just can't break through until we disappear
So tell me now
If this ain't love then how do we get out?
Because I don't know
That's when she said I don't hate you boy
I just want to save you while there's still something left to save
That's when I told her I love you girl
But I'm not the answer for the questions that you still have
"Sun's up!" The Courier barged into Arcade's room most decidedly before the sun was up. In an instance, Boone was scrambling for his clothes. The Courier's brow knit together. Shame was on Boone's face. Embarrassment on Arcade's.
Then the Courier laughed and his eyes danced. He put his hat on the dresser by the door and placed his glasses in his jacket's inner pocket before unbuttoning it and tossing it aside.
"Well," he said. "Sun's not quite up yet." And then he took off his shirt.
"Firewood" Regina Spektor
You'll want to go back
You'll wish you were small
Nothing can slow the crying
You'll take the clock off of your wall
And you'll wish it was lying
Love what you have and you'll have more love
You're not dying
Everyone knows you're going to love
Though there's still no cure for crying
Scene Three: Freeside
Courier Monologue
The Courier sat at one of the blackjack tables at The Atomic Wrangler. He had come alone and with only the caps he had found in his pockets. He was well on his way to his thousand cap limit. Too much more and floor managers would take a notice. Floor managers took a notice and soon enough men like the Courier were escorted out.
Tomorrow, they were heading into the Strip. The Courier remembered.
He doubled his bet hoping for a ten, got it, and gook the green fifty chip as his prize.
He was the prodigal son.
He put down all his chips on the next bet.
He was returning.
"Walk" Foo Fighters
Now
For the very first time
Don't you pay no mind?
Set me free again
You keep alive a moment at a time
But still inside a whisper to a riot
To sacrifice but knowing to survive
The first decline another state of mind
I'm on my knees, I'm praying for a sign
Forever, whenever
I never wanna die
I'm on my knees
I never wanna die
I'm dancing on my grave
I'm running through the fire
Forever, whatever
I never wanna die
I never wanna leave
I'll never say goodbye
Forever, whatever
He lay on one of the couches in the suite that the King had prepared for them. His bare feet dangled off the edge, and the robodog Boone didn’t like kept nudging his hand. Arcade was more than happy to oblige the dog with the requested head pets.
He read his favorite dog-eared paperback. The Latin was transformative. The text exploded his mind as well as soothed it. He knew the words so well, reading them was the closest thing to spiritual Arcade had ever experienced.
He refused to worry. A bullet hadn’t stopped the Courier before. It wouldn’t stop him tomorrow.
But it was not ending.
Arcade feared the Strip was only just the beginning of it.
Arcade Monologue
"O Fortuna" The Piano Guys
Sors immanis Fate - monstrous
et inanis, and empty,
rota tu volubilis, you whirling wheel,
status malus, you are malevolent,
vana salus well-being is vain
semper dissolubilis, and always fades to nothing,
obumbrata shadowed
et velata and veiled
michi quoque niteris; you plague me too;
nunc per ludum now through the game
dorsum nudum I bring my bare back
fero tui sceleris. to your villany.
Boone was settled on the roof of the impersonation school. Snipers, like cats, liked high places. He sat back lit by the neon-lined sign as he took apart and cleaned his weapons with an uncanny single mindedness.
He wondered what the next day would bring. Recently, the Courier had been uncharacteristically closed mouth -- especially about that bastard who had shot him. The hair on Boone’s forearms routinely stood on end the same way it did in the days leading up to Bitter Springs.
Ghosts of dead Khans swirled around him, squeezed the air out of the wide open roof.
Soon, he feared, these ghosts would be replaced by arrogant pricks with too much pomade, with Chairmen.
Boone Monologue
"It's a Curse" Wolf Parade
Under the new sun now
There coming only alive
I might be here all the time
And i share no body no mind
From the top of the mountain to the rotten sand
We're driving back, while we're west until it ran out of land
We walked five whole minutes to the dark edge of town
Took a long look at nothing and turned back around
Act III
Scene One: The Strip
When the Courier entered The Tops, the host called out to him by name. The word was heavy with fear and confusion. “Wasn’t expecting you, baby.”
“I know,” said the Courier. His vision honed quickly on his former employer, his former friend. He greeted Benny with a cold smile. “I need to know why.”
Benny hugged him. Promised him champagne for his homecoming. Gave him “they keys to the castle, baby,” and swore to meet him in his suite.
Instead, what was waiting for him was either a very poor decorated unit or a slightly large chunk of Benny’s personal militia. What was left after a moment’s fury, all that was left were the corpses of men whose girlfriends names the Courier had known.
He began to pick up the pieces of broken glass and his history but then he met Yes Man.
"Wayfaring Stranger" Neko Case
I'm just a poor wayfarin' stranger,
While travelin' through this world below.
Yet there's no sickness, no toil, nor danger,
In that bright land to which I go.
I'm goin' there to see my Father.
And all my loved ones who've gone on.
I'm just goin' over Jordan.
I'm just goin' over home.
I know dark clouds will gather 'round me,
I know my way is hard and steep.
But beauteous fields arise before me,
Where God's redeemed, their vigils keep.
I'm goin' there to see my Mother.
She said she'd meet me when I come.
So, I'm just goin' over Jordan.
I'm just goin' over home.
Scene Two: The Enclave
Arcade and Courier
Independent New Vegas.
The thought had yet to leave Arcade’s mind since they had left the robot that explained the true power behind that platinum chip.
They would need to win the dam. It was imperative. And they needed more fire power than the tribes could afford to them.
So he had volunteered his past -- the stained sins of his father. Even with the literal remnants of the Enclave surrounding him, the Courier showed no fear -- only appreciate. No loathing -- only thanks.
Leaving the safe house he said, “Your father’s power armor, I want you to wear it. For us. For peace,”
"Ocean of Noise" Arcade Fire
Left in the morning
While you were fast asleep
Into an ocean of violence
A world of empty streets
You've got your reasons
And me I've got mine
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies to buy myself some time
In an ocean of noise
I first heard your voice
Now who hear among us
Still believes in choice?
Not I!
No way of knowing
What any man will do
An ocean of violence
Between me and you
Scene Three: The Fort
Boone and Courier
It was against the Courier’s better judgment to take Boone with him to the Fort. He had known it would not lend itself to negotiations.
They made it as far as the outer circle before Boone began shooting -- Legion, bodies from crosses, slaves who dared to fight on the wrong side.
The Courier struck a deal with Caesar: put Boone in the arena. If he survived through their meeting, he would be released.
Amused, Caesar agreed. The Courier took his time in the tent, feeling no need to rush. When he left, Boone was covered in blood but still stood.
As they left, the legate bid them “Vale.”
"45" Shinedown
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45,
I'm swimming through the ashes of another life
There's no real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45
Send a message to the unborn child
Keep your eyes open for a while
In a box high up on the shelf, left for you, no one else
There's a piece of a puzzle known as life
Wrapped in guilt, sealed up tight
What ever happened to the young man's heart
Swallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart
Scene Four: Killing House
Arcade and Courier and Boone
They could avoid it no longer. The Legion and NCR would be dealt with at the dam. The defeat would force both factions out of the Mojave.
They only thing left was the Strip itself and House. There was no reasoning. There was only action. And the action would be brutal.
The Courier dodged the securitrons alone. When he faced the shell of a man who had, in a way, orchestrated his death, he felt nothing.
House asked why.
“It’s only business,” he said.
The single bullet seemed to humane.
When Arcade and Boone joined him, they made love on the wrap-around bar overlooking the Strip’s neon lights.
"Satin in a Coffin" Modest Mouse
Now the blow's been softened,
since the air we breathe's our coffin.
Well now the blow's been softened,
since the ocean is our coffin.
Often times you know our laughter
is your coffin ever after.
And you know the blow's been softened,
since the world is our coffin.
Well now the blow's been softened
since we are our own damn coffins.
Well everybody's talkin' about their short lists.
Everybody's talkin' about death.
You were laying on the carpet
like you're satin in a coffin.
You said, "Do you believe what you're sayin'?"
Yeah right now, but not that often.
Scene Five: Travels and War
The Courier Returning to the Lucky 38
With The Lucky 38 rid of its minotaur, the Courier traveled often. He walked the desert searching for allies in bunkers, shacks, vaults, caves, canyons, casinos, and air fields.
When he returned, he frequently brought a new companion to add to his motley court. By evening, though, the mottled blue sheets of his king sized bed held too much space between the three men. They locked together like feral dogs in heat and the sweetest kinds of puzzle pieces. Their touches became a liturgy that was repeated nightly.
One night, in a haze of jizz and jazz, the Courier told them his name.
"Darken My Door" Lucero
I can't say I've been Behaved, you'd not believe me anyways,
There's been other women of course.
So hold me to this one.
I wont make the same mistakes anymore.
Come on now darlin, please darken my door.
With me its where you belong, so bring yourself back home.
we'll tear this town down to the ground.
White water tavern nights, old songs and cheap red wine.
There's no finer mess to be found
I'll hold you to this one
I still hear your footsteps crossing the floor
Your bare feet on hardwood can barely make a sound
From the kitchen to the bedroom with all the lights down.
A glass of water, some whiskey, the smoke in your hair
Scene Six: The Battle of Hoover Dam
Arcade and Courier and Boone
The day of the battle, they sky was split with the cacophony of machine gun casings bouncing off blood soaked concrete. They were separated from one another -- every member of the Courier’s tribe was in a different corner of the massacre.
The Legion was pushed back East. Boone still dreamed of his red mist.
The Courier was standing atop the dam and watched the vertibird take an elegant and joyous dive when he was greeted with the face of the NCR.. The Courier gave them the simple option of returning to their camps in the west.
They refused.
So he told Yes Man to send them home, westward over the dam.
"Radioactive" Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix
I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age
I raise my flags, don my clothes
It's a revolution, I suppose
We're painted red to fit right in
Act IV
Scene One: Independent New Vegas
The Strip did not roll out a red carpet for their return. They were not greeted like gods or monsters. They were not greeted.
It had been perhaps, seven days, when a securitron buzzed the private suite. The Courier was needed in the casino.
Outside the heavy steel doors was the White Glove Marjorie. Her pale and elegant face dipped in respectful deference.
“Thank you,” she said and offered him an ivory and gilt mask.
The Courier sputtered. “For what?”
“Everything,” she replied.
Boone cut the Courier off from behind before the man could continue to flail for words. “You’re welcome.” He took the mask and bid her goodbye.
The numbers of tribes traveling to visit the casino increased.
None were turned away.
"I'm Not Your Hero" Tegan and Sara
Sometimes it feels like the side that I'm on
Plays the toughest hand, holds the longest stand
Sometimes it feels like I'm all that they've got
It's so hard to know I'm not what they want
I'm not their hero
But that doesn't mean that I wasn't brave
I never walked the party line
Doesn't mean that I was never afraid
I'm not your hero
But that doesn't mean we're not one and the same
I do my best to walk the finest line
Till I've had all that I can take
Scene Two: The Sierra Madre
Dean Domino Monologue
Complete infatuation that is driven to madness. That’s the Sierra Madre’s charm. With her voice clad in red silk, that voice takes you hold.
When you get here, searching for the treasure of that girl, there is nothing to hold onto except shadows. There are only ghosts to greet you. Silent, encased in the past.
Even the treasures, like memories, are entombed.
But she walks the floors of the casino and you see her, out of the corner of your eye and your have to find her. You need her.
But she’s never there. Even when you do find her, there’s no way to touch her. No way to know her.
"Damn Your Eyes" Alex Clare
I can do what I want,
I'm in complete control
That's what I tell myself!
I got a mind of my own,
I'll be alright alone
Don't need anybody else!
I give myself a good talking to
No more being a fool for you
I remember how you made wanna surrender!
Scene Three: Zion
Joshua Grahame Monologue
The Courier didn’t know any Bible verses, but the words of the Burned Man resonated in what they called his honest heart.
The line between independence and vengeance was a thin one. The line between vengeance and redemption was even finer.
It was in Zion that the Courier was offered a place to begin again, to start a new tale. Yet it was not the future he kept seeing on the camp ground cement. It wasn’t even the Old World past. It was something else -- something much more charred.
It was a churning in his chest. A necessary end. The graffiti signaled the door to his own past.
"A Necessary End" Saltillo
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come
When beggars die, there are no comets seen
Cowards die many times before their death.
Scene Four: Big Mountain
Dr. Mobius monologue
When he returned to the Lucky 38 he didn’t want to be touched. He pushed Arcade away when he greeted him at the door. For two days, he didn’t undress.
The sound of crying pulled Boone to one of the corner bathes of the suite.
The Courier, naked, was hunched in a corner, hunkered down on himself. Raised scars ran down his back, his chest, his crown. “Don’t look at me,” he moaned. “They made me into a monster.”
Boone sat beside him, but didn’t touch him.
The Courier rested his cheek on the other man’s shoulder. “I have to go back. To keep others from it. That madness.” He looked at Boone, teardrops on the lenses of his glasses, “Please, next time, come with me.”
"Comfort Eagle" Cake
We are building a religion
We are building it bigger
We are widening the corridors
And adding more lanes
We are building a religion
A limited edition
We are now accepting callers
for these pendant key chains
To resist it is useless
It is useless to resist it
His cigarette is burning
But he never seems to ash
Scene Five: The Lonesome Road
Ulysses Monologue
The Divide was the first place the Courier doubted himself. He watched the explosion over Hopeville and wondered what he had done.
Facing Ulysses, he remembered. Understood what was his home and why he wandered. The West never fit and the East never could.
So he walked. Traveled. That was his home. The road. The in between.
He was no savior. No king. But the in between world, the Mojave was his home. And he would defend it. And all those who called it their home. He would defend them as well.
And when the time came, the Courier would face the devil there.
"Skyfall" Adele
Skyfall is where we start
A thousand miles and poles apart
Where worlds collide and days are dark
You may have my number, you can take my name
But you'll never have my heart
Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
Scene Six: The Future from the Hotel 38
Arcade and Boone and Courier
War. War never changes.
But the men who fight in wars do.
And the land which is fought upon does.
The Mojave was no longer the same was when the bombs fell or when the Dam was taken either time. It was something new entirely.
The pearl at its center, the New Vegas Strip, continued to shine, and the trio of wasteland kinds continued to reign with love for their people and love for each other.
"Resurrection Fern" Iron and Wine
And we'll undress beside the ashes of the fire
Both our tender bellies wound in baling wire
All the more a pair of underwater pearls
Than the oak tree and its resurrection fern
In our days we will say
What our ghosts will say...
We gave the world what it saw fit
And what'd we get?
Like stubborn boys with big green eyes
We'll see everything...
In the tender shade of the autumn leaves
And the buzzard's wing
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