Two Eyes [Closed] [M]

Rusty had been giving the lantern the once over when Shea scooped up the alcohol and the pistol. He turned when he heard her speak about the food and gave her a nod. “Might as well take it.” he replied. Once she was close to him he took the bottle and stowed it away in his satchel. “Got some free space now after using that grenade… might as well put it to good use.” Rusty told, swinging the satchel back to rest against his behind. He imagined they’d probably end up drinking the scotch at some point, like the night before. Usually he just sold the booze he came across. It wasn’t ever really worth much, but he’d never really gotten a taste for it. Then again, with Shea around he had a feeling he just might.

As she snatched up the bottle of water, Rusty gave a small snicker. She didn’t seem like the kind of girl to shy away, she didn’t seem to give a damn. She saw something she wanted or needed and she took it. As she dropped the bottle, Rusty quickly went over and picked it up. “Empty bottle with a fitting cap, it’ll be useful. We can fill it up at the river, that way we’ve got water for later.” Rusty spoke hastily, before finding the cap, attaching it and then stowing it away. His mother used to go to the river often and grab water from it. No bottles were ever thrown away. Dirty water was better than no water, and she always told him to make sure to boil any water he got. If he got his hands on Radaway, he was supposed to add than in too, to help alleviate any radiation that was still in the water… Then again, with the purifier up that didn’t seem like a problem anymore. At least that’s how his father had seen it.

Rusty too took up the other bottle and drank a bit from it. Catching a snack cake thrown by Shea, he immediate ate it. She then told him to take a break and check the lantern. Rusty gave her a nod and took the lantern to the desk and sat on the edge, placing the lantern in front of him. He took off the satchel and leaned it against the terminal and began tinkering with the lantern. As he wiped the lens off of dust he gave it a bit of a nod. “Should work. Think one of the wires got a bit loose.” He grinned. Unscrewing the top of the lantern and setting it aside, Rusty slowly lifted the inner mechanisms. Sure enough, a wire had come loose inside, breaking the circuit between the battery inside and the bulb. “Yep. I can jury rig it… though I think we’d need to get something to make it stick once we get to the city. Some tape will do.” Carefully he wrapped the frayed end of the wire to the appropriate connector and slid the mechanism back down. Once the lid was in place, Rusty turned it on, illuminating Rusty in a yellow glow. “All good now!”

When he heard running water, Rusty looked up and over at Shea as she began cleaning herself. Immediately he turned and looked away, scratching a bit at the back of his neck. To busy himself he slipped over to the stimpak and stowed it away too. He then grabbed up the bandages and gave them the once over. Maybe it was finally time to swap his out. These looked good… maybe Shea would so it later? He stuffed them in his satchel and then turned to her as he heard her approach. “All better?” he asked, brushing the dust off his backside as he noticed a dust print of it on the desk. He then saw the running water and took it as his queue to move. Rusty moved past her, slipping off his jacket in the process and casually dropping it on the counter next to the sink. Rusty quickly began washing his hands. Making sure to rub the dust and dirt away.

As he was cleaning, she started to talk to him. Rusty turned a bit, with a raised eyebrow. “Huh?” he asked before she continued. Rusty turned back to the water, splashing it against his face and neck. He undid his shirt and continued washing away any dirt he could manage. He sighed happily at the coolness, before shivering. Still he listened to her, giving her a bit of a nod. “I… I getcha.” Rusty said after a brief moment of silence from him. “He looked like he wanted to devour me or something. At the very least he wanted all my stuff.” Rusty grimaced, dropping water over his hair. It was clear from his tense shoulders that he was pretty creeped out by the look still. It was over with now, he thought, even if there was a ton of guys who wanted to do the same out in the wastes.

“The steak and beer sounds good though.” Rusty smirked a bit as he finally turned back to face her. Rusty then began collecting his things and after giving the room another once over, he then stepped closer to her. She gave him a brief rundown of the remaining route, and after, with his shotgun in hand, he headed out into the tunnels. He guessed the tunnels closest to Rivet City would be clearer than the other tunnels. He would guess that people would traverse them often and as such anything that would’ve been cleared on a daily basis. Rusty held the lantern with it’s handle rested on the top of his shotgun. As he walked the light bobbed up and down slightly, but it gave them quite the illumination. It was certainly a lucky find at the very least. Hopefully the rest of their journey would be this lucky.

Unknown Metro Tunnels, D.C. Ruins

Rusty was a little quiet as he walked through the tunnels, his mind going back to his previous engagement. He looked troubled, though with his face hidden mostly from Shea’s view he could think to himself without really giving anything away. Watching the light move even the tiniest of shadows, Rusty remained in thought. It appeared that he was distracted, though when a howl echoed down the tunnel Rusty responded with a shake. Ghouls were fucking creepy; he didn’t care what anyone said. He knew it was probably best that he didn’t start talking to Shea about it though. Not knowing if the ghouls would be able to hear him, Rusty decided it was best not to risk it. After the howl, Rusty seemed a lot more alert; occasionally he’d move the lantern to light up a tunnel to see if there were any ghouls hidden down it. He never revealed any, much to his relief.

Rusty slowly came to a halt as he saw the train before them, giving Shea a glance. “Well then, this seems a bit of a problem” Rusty whispered lifting the lantern up in the air. It seemed the right side of the train was buried in rubble. Rusty half expected them to have to turn around and find another route.

Shea then climbed up onto the rear of the train and got the door open, and Rusty moved to follow her into it, but it seemed as he got the light close that wasn’t going to be an option. Both he and Shea were small, but they weren’t small enough to fit through a gap that was barely big enough for a radroach to get through. “Well that sucks.” Rusty grimaced, drooping his shoulders somewhat. From the sounds of it they had to squeeze through on the left of the train.

“Huh? Oh. Uh alright, whatever you say boss.” He smirked lightly, looking around and shining the light down the tunnel they had walked down just in case. He then turned and held the lantern up as high as he could to shine light on the area Shea needed to squeeze through. “Careful.” He whispered, moving forward to get a better look of her.

With a somewhat concerned look, Rusty watched her. Something was up… Did Shea not like small spaces? He could understand to an extent. He kept the light up for her though, so she could see what was going on. “Looks like you’re almost through,” Rusty reassured from his end of the train. He winced when he heard the gun knock against the train a bit, making him remember the pain in his hip. He was sure a bruise would form there after catching a similar bouncing gun when they’d fled earlier. Rusty rubbed his hip a bit, feeling the minor injury. At least it didn’t hurt unless he touched it. That was something at least.

Soon enough, Shea was out of the gap, though from Rusty’s point of view the girl looked panicked. He’d never expected to see such a look on her face. ‘Must be the uh… claw… claw-something,’ Rusty thought, the word escaping him. It was clear to him at least that she hated small spaces; maybe it was something to be avoided now. At the very least, Rusty would make sure to keep it in mind.

“O-okay. My turn.” Rusty muttered to himself from his side. Quickly he pulled the satchel off his back and tied the shotgun to it. He then grabbed his assault rifle and made sure to pull it close to his side. With the lantern in one hand and his overly heavy satchel in the other he decided to start moving across the gap. “Huh… A little more snug than I would’ve liked,” Rusty snickered as he began shifting down through the gap. He practically filled the gap with barely enough room to breathe. He pressed his behind back against the wall as much as he could and slid it along the wall as he moved. The satchel felt heavier now, more than ever. He cursed himself mentally for carrying three guns and a crowbar as he moved. Rusty almost tripped and fell sideways as his foot caught a stubborn piece of debris. Rusty managed to catch himself on a brick with his elbow though, and eventually self-righted.

Near Anacostia Crossing Metro Station, D.C. Ruins

“Coast’s clear huh? Alright.” Rusty acknowledged as he continued through, stepping over an exposed piece of rebar. “This aint too bad… little cramped.”

It was then Rusty heard something in front of him. “Oh shi-what was that?!” Rusty pushed himself along the gap, his satchel and rifle becoming more or less trapped as he moved. “Aw crap a ghoul-god dammit why isn’t this thing wider?” he growled to himself. Eventually he was at the edge of the train, but his satchel strap got caught on something, in the light, he couldn’t see what it was, but it was definitely hooked. Instead of risking ripping the strap, he let it hang there. Instead he quickly began undoing the belt holding the shotgun on the bag.

By now, he could hear more of the ghouls racing towards Shea. “Fuck fuck fuck.” Rusty ranted as he struggled with the belt. Suddenly it was free; though Rusty’s foot had found it’s way under one of the carriage’s wheels. Rusty hit the ground with a dull thud. His tailbone seemed to fire a shot of pain through his whole body, ‘causing him to roll onto his side with pain. Shea was letting off shots at the ghouls now. The lantern was on it’s side, though it still lit up Shea and the surrounding area. Unhooking his twisted foot from the wheel, Rusty began to pull himself up.

Somewhat panicked, Rusty found his footing. He walked a bit, but pain shot through his ankle. Looking down, Rusty called out in pain, cursing slightly. That… wasn’t good.

Rusty’s momentary distraction passed, though he immediately saw a ghoul leap at Shea. Having heard the previous two go down, he assumed Shea could handle the third. That however, proved to be an issue when the weapon jammed. Suddenly the ghoul was on Shea, Rusty couldn’t see exactly what happened, but he was sure it was biting her. Quickly he raised his shotgun, but he then remembered the spread. There was no way he’d shoot it without hitting her. Instead, Rusty pushed himself off the ground, doing his best to ignore the pain in his ankle. Rusty quickly tackled the ghoul off Shea, dragging it off her an using his weight to keep it down. It howled and rasped angrily, swiping at him aggressively tearing at his clothes. Rusty wasted no time, hitting it across the face with his gun. For a few moments Rusty seemed to beat the thing with his gun until it no longer attempted to scratch or bite him. Once it stopped, Rusty turned the barrel on the ghoul and fired. Rusty’s shot emptied it’s brain over the metro floor, causing Rusty to recoil away from it. He made sure to twist around quickly and fire a few more rounds from his shotgun at any remaining ghouls until there was none left.

When it was over Rusty turned to look at Shea. “Aw fuck. Stay there, I’ll grab the stimpaks from my bag, it’ll be alright okay?” Rusty grimaced, getting to his feet and limping over to the gap. He quickly grabbed up the lantern and held it against the gap. Using the light he managed to free his bag and then move over to Shea. Dropping the lantern next to her he got a proper look at her wounds. Immediately he went in his satchel and started dragging out anything until he brought out the stimpak he’d received from the stash.

“You’ll be fine, okay?” Rusty asked as he quickly injected her with the stimpak. “Let’s… get these bandages on you.” Rusty quickly told unravelling the bandages he’d pulled from his satchel.

Near Anacostia Metro Station, D.C. Subway Ruins

Rusty’s eye was a mix of worry and guilt as he looked over her wounds. “Uh huh…” He muttered under his breath, his hearing impaired with ringing still in it. He hadn’t heard exactly what she said, but from her expression she was passively brushing the wounds off as if they weren’t a big deal. He gave a snort as she took a cigarette from somewhere on her person. Rusty wasn’t entirely sure where she’d dragged it from, but as if by magic it was there. The scent of blood mixed with the smell of smoke, Rusty shook his head a bit. Wasn’t exactly the best of smells. She told him to pour some of the alcohol on it, and Rusty gave her a bit of a nod. His dad had done the same whenever their fingers got nicked on something they’d made. “Will sting a bit.” He warned, reaching over to his bag.

“Keep still.” He firmly told, unscrewing the bottle and then quickly pouring the booze over her wound. Quickly he brought the bandages over the wound and covered the wound. “We should probably get the Doc in the city to look you over just in case.” He gave her a bit of a nod. By now his shirt had patches of dark red across it, from his scratches. He too would probably need the once over.

When he was done treating her in the most rudimentary way possible he leaned back a bit. She seemingly regained herself and he gave her the briefest of smiles. “Alright… you should be good for now.” Carefully he moved away, making sure not to put any real weight on the ankle. He made his way to a flat bit of the concrete under the rail and sat down. He took the bottle of scotch and took a swift drink before closing it up. He breathed a deep sigh looking over at the ferals. “Now I know why I stayed out of these damn tunnels.”

Shea got to her feet and Rusty grimaced immediately. He had to get up sometime, now was as good a time as any. With a nod, Rusty grabbed the pipe carefully and used it to help him get to his feet. Carefully he put his bag over his shoulder and gave her a look. “Yeah… We’ll be careful just in case. Take it easy and we should be alright.” Rusty spoke, putting a little weight on his twisted ankle. He immediately grimaced, but watched as she poured the whiskey over her stomach.

“Oh. Yeah. I’m fine I guess. The thing got me good.” Rusty turned when she motioned ahead. “So that is the station, huh?” Rusty stated, giving the wide darkness a good look. As she spoke of his leg however, Rusty looked away, almost looking ashamed. “I uh… My bag got jammed. Pulling it out, I guess I must’ve got my foot lodged in the wheel or something. I fell and twisted my ankle something fierce.” He lifted it up slightly, and put it down. “I… should be alright for now.”

His chest however was a different story, he’d several deep scratches. Had he taken off his shirt, he probably would’ve looked like he got mauled. The ghoul never managed to bite him though, so that was something. He’d probably need to disinfect it later, but he hadn’t got a mind to do it now. He had so many scratches he’d probably have to go shirtless for a bit to get it seen to. He didn’t really fancy doing that in a metro, he felt vulnerable as it was.

“I can make it to the surface… Hell, I can probably make it to Rivet City if it’s as close as you’ve led me to believe.” Rusty nodded, limping slightly over to the lantern and picking it up. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The day had been crappy, He’d killed two people, two feral ghouls and gotten torn up in the process. That wasn’t to mention how wounded Shea had got ‘cause he hadn’t managed to get through a god damn gap. Rusty looked frustrated at the floor, then at the briefcase in his hands. He still wanted rid of this damn thing. But that wasn’t really the focus anymore. The focus was making sure Shea got seen to and his scratches treated. He was sure the scratches looked and felt worse than they actually were. Still, it’d ruined his shirt. From the look of it, he and Shea would have to do more than just sell their loot. Rusty needed a fresh set of clothing, both of them needed looking at, they also needed food and drink. With his ankle, Rusty knew he’d probably need some hours off it. Maybe they’d have to spend the night in the city after all.

As Rusty got moving after checking on whether Shea was really fit to move. He took the lead. Every step he made he grimaced in pain. Soon enough he was gritting his teeth to stop himself from moaning out. He still limped a bit, but as time went on he made it less and less conspicuous. “You doing alright?” Rusty asked, as he climbed up onto the platform of the station. Rusty reached down his hand to help her up. Once she was on the platform, Rusty turned and looked around. Empty tin cans, bottles and other trash littered the platform along with long dead skeletons. Rusty frowned a bit as he passed them. As much as he was in pain, at least he wasn’t them.

“Urgh, stairs.” Rusty groaned as he found his way to the foot of an escalator. “This might take a while… Bear with me.” He whispered, taking a firm grasp of the side rail. Every second step seemed like a struggle as Rusty heaved himself up along with all the weight he had in stuff. It took several minutes before finally the two ended up on the right level. Rusty then turned to look at Shea as if to ask ‘where now?’ Once he got his answer, he continued on. He carefully looked over at a makeshift camp that stood on the lobby of the metro above the station. “Huh, weird how it’s empty…” Rusty muttered to himself before he noticed the many raider markings scattered about. It then made a lot more sense. “Either they’re out or the ghouls got to ‘em… not sure I wanna stick around to find out.”

Following Shea’s directions, the hobbling Rusty and Shea found their way up to the entrance tunnel, the two passing many pre-war posters, some of which caught Rusty’s eye. A lot of them had been preserved, pressed behind glass. As such, many of the posters retained their colours. Rusty eyed them over before continuing on. He could already hear the wind, and there was a gentle breeze flowing into the tunnel from the outside. He could also hear the river and the distant voices of the city. “Looks like you were right” Rusty grinned with gritted teeth.

As they arrived on the outside of the tunnel, Rusty cursed again. “More step, urgh. I god damn hate steps.” Rusty growled before pushing himself up against the wall and climbing up the steps that felt a lot steeper with an injured ankle. With every step however, Rusty could see more of the city. He was immediately grateful for the sight. The huge boat seemed to whine in greeting, as it always did. Even from this distance, Rusty could see the guards patrolling the deck, and the bridge that lead out into the wasteland. A few caravans were gathered outside of the city too with a bunch of pack brahmins. Rusty sighed out deeply with relief. They could unload all their stuff, finally. He looked back at Shea to make sure she was there. “Almost there now… You still good?”

    “I guess ya have…” he nodded, looking at her eye as she waited for him at the top of the stairs. She must’ve been through worse situations, hell, so had he. Still, it didn’t hurt to make sure. He sighed, coming to a halt when he reached the top of the stairs, giving her a brief look before looking properly over at the city before them. It looked inviting, but also crowded. He wouldn’t be surprised if in a few more years they started building outwards. When she revealed her worry about his leg, he gave her a nod. “Good idea… I don’t wanna slow us down any more than is necessary." Rusty hadn’t led on, or least he’d tried not to let on to the fact that it did really bloody hurt.

    As he watched her, he smirked. “Oh I suppose I could go for that too.” He grinned, guessing their plans of leading Rivet City immediately had changed. He imagined she didn’t want to go off all bruised and bloody. At the very least she would’ve wanted to get clean. Having a proper bed for the night did sound wonderful though.

    Once Shea was on the move again, Rusty followed suit, though at a limp that made him slower than probably either of them liked. Rusty’s stomach growled obnoxiously, grimacing at the sound which, to him, seemed to echo. It reminded him off his hunger. “All of those things sound really good Shea… but I dunno, I think it was about a hundred caps or so…? Maybe about a hundred and twenty. Wasn’t too long ago since I was here last, maybe the lady running the hotel put the prices up since I left.” He told, breathing out a deep sigh he decided to distract himself his hunger by looking out to the river, and the ruins beyond. He hadn’t heard too much about that side of the river, in fact, he knew nothing of it. Maybe it was as full of raiders and mutants as the side he stood on. He hadn’t even seen any bridges going across to that side either, so he figured if anyone actually wanted to get across there, they either had to swim or use a boat. The thought played in his mind as he sort of daydreamed his way to the city.


    Rusty’s eye watched the city as they approached, wiping his brow on his sleeve. “Lanterns… cool. Suppose it’s getting pretty late, huh?” he asked, looking up as the sky began to darken. He gave a shiver, noticing the area get rather cooler without the sun to light the place. It’d soon be night and then everything would fall quiet again. Still, there would be guards everywhere and the sight made him feel a lot safer.

    As they passed the water Brahmin, Rusty stared at them. He had only seen them a couple of times, whenever traders would come and go from his home. He ruffled his hair. How the caravaneers and the Brotherhood got them to move was anyone’s guess. Rusty gave something of a snort. “Woulda been handy to have had one of these with us, Shea.” He chuckled. “Could’a carried all our stuff.”

    Rusty blinked as he heard the grunt from the guard, Rusty’s eye moving between the two as if to ask ‘yah know each other by any chance?’ He shrugged it off as he walked next to Shea, looking over the trail. Clearly many feet had trodden the same route that they had taken, many times over. Hell, he’d probably walked this way before, though last time he was too in awe of the amount of metal everywhere.

    There was a beggar sat near the entrance, obviously trying to gain what little he could from those who passed him by. Rusty’s eyebrow rose at him, wondering why the guy was just sitting there. Rusty shook his head, knowing the guy was down on his luck, but he knew the guy could’ve been doing something. He could scavenge or do work for someone surely? Rusty gave him a look of pity, though he didn’t move to give him anything. Instead he looked over at Shea, catching her expression. The young man winced somewhat as he received a glance, but nodded in understanding. He guessed she was right, though he knew she could’ve been nicer about it. The man had to help himself.

    Rusty cursed under his breath as more steps laid in his way. He growled low, but immediately went to start heaving himself up the steps. “Ah this sucks.” He grimaced once he was finally up the top. He glanced around and off the edge, noticing their height. Where had this even come from? Was it built after the war or what? He looked over at the crane bridge and snorted. That must’ve been built after the war… It seemed like a makeshift defensive measure.

    Once they were at the top, Rusty took his chance to rest against the metal side of the platform. He watched Shea go over to the panel and watched her carefully. As the guards started to speak to her through the device, Rusty turned to look at them on the other side. He guessed they couldn’t be too careful, even with the amount of people on the outside. He gave them an extra-long sigh. Couldn’t they let them in already?

    Eventually the guards accepted their reasons for heading into Rivet City, and Rusty watched as the mechanisms in the crane turned the long metal bridge. The sound was almost deafening loud, but it was familiar. Sometimes the wind carried the noise for miles around and thus sometimes could be heard deep in the ruins. He gave Shea a look that said ‘finally’, before getting onto his feet properly and moving to stand next to her. From the looks of the bridge, sooner or later it’d need replacing, though where the hell would you even get such replacements. Rusty eyed it carefully, but followed on after Shea once she got moving.

    Without any real exchanges between the guards and themselves once they got ‘aboard’, Rusty turned to Shea with a questioning look. Before too long though, Shea began moving again, leading Rusty through the cramped halls. Rusty followed Shea’s moves to the letter, pressing up against the wall whenever someone needed to get past. Rusty wondered why there wasn’t some kind of one-way system in place, but then again, people actually lived in these places, so he doubted anyone would ever follow it. He snorted as they were passed by two squealing kids. He wondered what that must’ve been like, growing up around other kids. Would it have been nice? He had to admit, growing up as the only child got pretty lonely at times. Still, he turned out well enough, didn’t he?

    Rusty opened his eyes wide as he heard a married couple arguing and Rusty gave a quick naughty chuckle. “Oooo~ someone’s in trouble~” he sang merrily as he continued along the deck. As they passed an open hatch, Rusty turned and leaned to look inside. With a wide eye he watched the couple kiss with some interest at least that was until he was caught. The hatch soon swung shut and Rusty had something of an embarrassed flare on his cheeks. Catching up with Shea, he gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Must be rather… cosy to live here.” He told with a tone that hinted at his displeasure to the idea.

    As they moved through, he noticed Shea giving any strangers as wide a birth as possible, to which Rusty nodded. He then too began giving the city dwellers a wide birth too, making sure to move his satchel to his hip facing away from any potential thieves. He did notice Shea’s changed look, eyeing the back of her hood with a little curiosity. Was there a reason she wanted to keep her face hidden? He shrugged it off after a few moments, before continuing following her.

    “Oh, uh, okay…” he muttered after listening her to talk to him. “I guess that makes sense… I doubt they’d try anything with all these guards everywhere though… If anything they’ll probably wait for us to leave or something...” He immediately regretted thinking that and speaking out loud. He knew it was true though; raiders and ‘bad’ mercs would often wait outside of cities like the one they were in, watching for their targets and then pouncing when outside of the city limits. He shivered at the thought, hoping he was wrong this time.

    A little while later Rusty and Shea stepped through a hatch and into the large cargo hold that held the market place. He blinked at the scale of the building, almost thinking for a second that the room was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. He got all of the narrow passages and tiny bunk rooms along the decks of the ship, but this place was huge. Rusty gave a brief smile to the guard who looked at Shea, before following her down the steps, thankful that it was a decline this time.

    Even from the base of the stairs the smell of food reached his nostrils, and Rusty’s stomach growled again. He looked over at Shea and sure enough she was targeting the place too.

    Rusty let out a snicker as she changed their plans in favour of dinner. “Whatever you say boss.” He grinned, hobbling after her. “Wha-uh-ya sure? You don’t have too… I mean I can pay myself…” he uttered quietly, though he didn’t exactly need too much convincing though. He gave her a bit of a grateful smile and followed after her. He looked over the Rudder for a second. “Business is booming, huh?” he asked, more to himself than anyone within earshot.

    With an awkward look, he shook his head. “I uh, don’t think I’m gonna go that crazy, but a big meal does sound good." Carefully he wandered after Shea, and allowed her to sit down first, before taking off his stuff and placing it with hers. He then sat down and pulled off his jacket and throwing it on the back of his chair.

    An embarrassed expression on Rusty’s face emerged again as Shea called him handsome, looking away a bit and coughing. “But uh… that sounds great actually. I think I’m gonna have a steak and whatever greens ya got.” He grinned watching the bartender get their drinks. He looked over the whiskey for a moment chewing on his lips. Suddenly he grasped it, and downed it in one, wincing a bit. He felt he needed it after the day’s events, quickly plopping the glass back down and moving onto his Nuka-Cola.

    With the whiskey in his system, Rusty seemed to loosen up. With the weight off his feet, he relaxed back against the chair and had a look around. This was probably the best thing about Rivet City. It was spacious and whilst there were some people around, there weren’t too many. He glanced at Shea, smirking as she lit the cigarette. She really did like to smoke.

    Rusty made a curious noise as Shea began talking. He nodded in agreement. “Yeah… Oh right don’t forget we need my eye looking at too, it’s been a bit itchy since ya looked at it… So maybe we can, uh, kill two birds with one stone. But yeah, sounds great.” He agreed, taking a drink of his Nuka.

    As she asked him about their future route, Rusty gave her a sort of shrug. “I was… kinda hoping you’d know a good route, I don’t know anything about… out there.” He told, showing more how isolated his parents had kept him over the years. He was truthful in what he said, absolutely. “Just show me some other places like this… maybe something cool… I dunno. I’ll just be glad not to see ruins everywhere honestly.”

    It wasn’t long before their food came. Rusty immediately dragged his food close and began to devour his greens. He was hungry, most definitely as he fell quiet for a moment, staring into his food and basically nothing else. For a few minutes all he did was eat, drink and breathe. Soon enough he was finally on his steak, which he slowed down for. He took a moment to breathe before sighing heavily. “This is good-really good.” He beamed, shifting on his chair. “Oh uh, whilst we’re here…” he said carefully. “I should probably buy some stuff for the trip, since I’m not really… equipped to going on a long journey, might as well grab some stuff, huh?” he asked, looking at her.

    He didn’t really wait for an answer, he just continued with his meal.

    Eventually he was done eating and pushed his plate away gratefully. “Thanks Shea… that was awesome.” He grinned, finishing off his Nuka before looking at their pile. “So uh… let’s… get selling this stuff now. I’ll let you do all the talking ‘cause I have no idea what I’m doing.” He snorted, after letting his food settle for a few minutes before sliding off his chair. Once again he picked up his stuff and when Shea was ready he followed her off.

    All the while Rusty kept quiet, as Shea sold their stuff, taking his caps as they came. As he got caps and his weight was lifted, he began to browse the items the store had. Having made a mental note of what he needed he made sure to notice things as he saw them. Still, he would wait until Shea was done selling. Rusty gave up the small lantern he had used the previous night, opting to keep the railway lantern instead. It had a bigger light, it was brighter too, plus Rusty knew he could fix it. The hunting rifle and the shotgun too were offered up along with two of the bottles of scotch, though Rusty kept one of them behind for later. Rusty produced some random items he’d scavenged from the wasteland in the days previous that Shea hadn’t seen, though they amounted to little more than some almost valuable trinkets.

    When all was sold, Rusty held is caps in his hand, knowin that he wouldn’t have the mound for very long. “Feels much better to have all that crap off my back.” He grinned, before looking around. “Though… I'm going to grab a few things whilst I’m here. Though I bet you’ve got your own share of things to buy too, huh?” He looked around for a moment. “I guess we can either split up, or meander around together.” Whatever Shea’s choice, he would quickly head over to the clothing store within the marketplace. After scrunching up his eyes at the sign above the store, Rusty turned and looked over at the clothing. He was then approached by the store owner, and Rusty greeted him. Whilst initially rude to Rusty, the owner soon saw Rusty’s caps and soon became a whole lot more pleasant. Rusty had been eyeing a suit of leather armour, knowing that he’d probably need something more substantial than a mechanic’s jacket, a shirt and plain pants. It proved to be more expensive than Rusty was willing to fork out on it and as such he turned to a much cheaper outfit the owner put together. It was in Rusty’s size thankfully. Rusty gave the outfit the once over with a smirk. Rusty grabbed the thick crimson shirt, it would be good for winter and cold nights and so Rusty nodded. Next was a thick pair of leather pants, with a bit of armouring around the knees. He held them against his waist, and it looked like they’d fit him with a belt. The jacket that came with the outfit was more interesting. The jacket was leather and came with a bandolier across the chest full of useful pouches. Once he looked it over, he bought it and whilst he was at it be bought a new shirt and a medium sized backpack. He then placed his new ‘armour’ and clothing in his backpack and threw it on his shoulders.

    Once he was done at the clothing store, he moved on to the chem store, making sure to buy a bottle of rad-x pills as a precautionary measure. Eventually he found himself back at the gun store, where he managed to get himself some more ammo. Finally, he moved over to the supply store. Whilst there he bagged himself a lightweight bedroll, a small travel set of tools, a small portable stove powered by flamer fuel (which he got two small canisters of), more lock picks and some cleaning fluid. Rusty knew his rifle needed some maintenance, and made a mental note to do so when they got settled down for the night. When he was done, he stepped to the side and waited for Shea. He counted his caps out, knowing that he’d eaten into caps, he whimpered a bit. “So much for that stack… Ah well, I got some good stuff at least.” He grinned making sure to stow the remaining caps away.

    As soon as Shea got close again he smiled at her. “I’ve got everything I need now. I’m just gonna grab some bandages from the doc’ after we’re looked at. Then I’m all good… ya ready? I really would like to get this ankle seen to.”

Rivet City, D.C. Outskirts

    When the two ended up in the Rivet City Clinic, Doc Preston had been cleaning up when he heard the two enter. “I’ll be right with you kids.” He called as he scrubbed a medical bed. The scent of disinfectant rose through the air and hung there.

    Rusty smiled a bit, nodding to the doctor, before stepping over to one of the chairs that sat against the wall for patients. Rusty was careful to remove his stuff and place them down. He carefully placed his leg with the twisted ankle over his other leg to keep it off the floor. Still, he seemed a lot less in pain now, having managed the stairs a bit better than he had in the metro.

    It was a few minutes but then the doctor turned to them both. He took off his glasses and used his tie to clean them before sticking them back on the bridge of his nose. “So… who’s first…?” He asked looking between the two. Rusty looked at Shea as if to ask her if it was okay for him to go first, but the doctor snorted. “Come on kid, you might as well get up here.” Preston smiled. “You both look like you’ve been through hell. I hope I don’t have to question my ethics in healing you guys.” To which Rusty gave a snort.

    Slowly he got up and wandered over to the doctor before climbing up on the bed. “Nah… we just got attacked by some ferals in the metro… and this was from a mutant attack” Rusty informed honestly, waving a hand near his eye.


    “You’re probably lucky to get away from them with just this, kid. Let me take a look at that.” Preston told, stepping close to Rusty. After Rusty removed his eyepatch, the doctor unravelled Rusty’s bandages and immediately threw them out, before grabbing some more. “Hm… Looks like it must hurt.” Preston stated, with Rusty giving a response in the form of a shrug. Preston immediately got to work, first cleaning the area thoroughly with sterilised water and alcoholic wipes, which immediately forced Rusty to recoil, and make a pained noise. Once it was cleaned, the doctor pulled a tray over to them, immediately grabbing a stimpak. “This’ll help with the healing… though from the looks of it, you’re gonna have a hard time with that eye, you might want to consider just getting it removed and replaced. Might be costly though kid.” He suggested, administering the dose. Soon enough Rusty eye was covered in gauze and then a bandage was wrapped professionally around his head. Once Rusty had put his eyepatch over it, Preston turned back. “You’ve got some cuts on you, which could do with a clean-“

    Rusty cut him off. “Nah, that’s alright Doc, I’ll do that myself tonight, but it’s my ankle, I twisted it somewhat in the tunnels. Could ya take a look at it?” He asked, and the doctor nodded. Rusty quickly took off his shoe and old sock revealing a bad bruise around his ankle.

    “Oh, that looks… It’s probably worse than it looks.” Preston reassured, taking a hold of Rusty’s ankle carefully, and moving it slightly, watching Rusty’s expression carefully. Preston gave a sound off affirmation, as if he got a good idea of the injury. After a few moments of examination, he grabbed up a bottle of med-x and a needle and administered a half dose. “That should take away the pain for a little while, help you sleep. Make sure you keep off it for a few hours. It should be better in the morning, though try not to do anything too strenuous for a few days, might end up causing you a worse injury.” Preston paused for a moment. “If that’s all… I’d like to have a look at your friend’s shoulder.”

    Rusty got off the bed and placed his foot down, thankful for the pain relief. “Much better thanks… Oh-could I get some spare bandages whilst I’m here?” he asked, and Preston went and got some before turning to Shea. “Right you’re up next, so come on up.”

    With his bandages, Rusty slipped past Shea and stowed them in his satchel, and began picking up his things. Like Shea he was ready for bed too, though there were a few things he wanted to do first. Most importantly, he wanted to get a bath, and clean his wounds. He also wanted to clean his rifle a bit, whilst they had the time. There was also the lantern which needed fixing.

        Rust was busy gathering his things when he noticed Shea undressed for the doctor. “I uh… yeah.” Rusty muttered under his breath and turned away, his aim was to busy himself with something else. He didn’t really find anything to do so he just sort of stared out of the door. From the sounds of it, the doctor soon began dressing Shea’s wound. Rusty paid it no mind though, given the fact that he wanted to protect whatever was left of Shea’s modesty. She didn’t appear to have much of that. Rusty on the other hand… was a different matter. Being taught to be independent and do things for himself from a relatively young age, Rusty had gotten used to having his own space away from people. He hadn’t truly been naked near someone, at least from what he remembered. Hell, he’d never been as unclothed as Shea.

        Once they were done, Rusty turned and looked at Shea, once she got his attention with the jingling of caps. Rusty immediately went to pay for his treatment, but the girl blocked him. With an almost frustrated look on his face, he had to let her pay for him. Rusty grumbled slightly to himself about it, not wanting to let the girl waste more caps on him.

        It was then they had a conversation about the chance of a bionic eye, to which Rusty turned his head with a surprised look plastered on his face. “It’s okay… we don’t really need to bother him with this, I’m sure he wants to get home…” but Rusty’s voice fell on deaf ears as the two began to have a conversation about it.

        Rusty almost choked up a lung as he heard the words four thousand caps. “Whaaa?” he asked scratching a hand through the thick mound atop his head. “How would we ever come across that much?” he asked giving an almost shell-shocked expression. But he nodded at her. “Better be a bloody good house for that much-night doc’.” Rusty murmured, giving the doctor a goodbye as they left. To get that much they’d have to rob a bank or something, at least that’s what it’d take in Rusty’s eyes. He knew his parents often had stacks of caps from their business, but it wasn’t ever more than several hundred at a time. Hell, he struggled to believe there were four-thousand caps on the entire tub.

        Eventually the two made it into the hotel, Rusty’s leg was feeling a whole lot better thanks to the med-x. He gave her a bit of smile as he walked inside with her. Rusty took a moment to look up and down the corridor, recognising this place as the hotel from previous visits. Last time he was stuck inside a small room by himself. He guessed this wasn’t going to be the case with Shea with him. Rusty gave her back a bit of a watch as she approached the Mr. Handy. She’d… made his life better. It was a bit weird of him to think, but as he realised it, she’d gotten him more caps than he ever would’ve done on his own. Now he was stocked up, and he had company for the first time in a few months. Hell, they were able to sleep in a hotel, something he’d only been able to afford once. Things were looking up, so he was thankful for that at least.

        Rusty gave a snort at Shea’s foul mouthed response to the robot’s pricing of the room. His humour coming into play as he watched their back and forth. Rusty eyed the robot suspiciously. It seemed to follow orders, but ever the technophobe, Rusty couldn’t bring himself to really trust the thing. Chances are he never would be able to trust the things.

        When they were done, Shea went off in the direction of room three, and he followed after her giving the robot a stare as he passed by. He was glad that he was out of the thing’s presence, so he caught up with Shea rather quickly.

        Soon the two were stood in their large-ish room the two stood together quietly for a moment. “Not bad…” Rusty trailed off, before turning to the door and closing it up. He made sure to study the lock for a moment, before pulling the leaver to keep out anyone who wished to enter. “There we go…” he smiled, the door now closed, blocked out most of the noise from the outside. The radio helped manage to drown out anything extra, probably why it was playing he figured. Giving the radio a look he shook his head. “Doesn’t that guy get sick of playing that song? I swear I grew up listening to him playing that… Or maybe he doesn’t really listen to his own broadcast…” Rusty babbled to himself. “Still… maybe he’s got some news…”

        When Shea started moving, Rusty blinked over at the bed she was now focused on. Rusty’s eye again widened. There was only one bed… what did that robot think… didn’t they have twin rooms? The more he looked at it though, the more he thought it looked enticing. Finally, an actual bed! Even his bed back home wasn’t as nice. In fact, his bed back home was relatively more than a simple cot his father had put together. He then turned to watch Shea stow her things down, noticing where she stuck the case. Rusty followed suit, grabbing his things, dropping his backpack, satchel underneath a small table that sat in the corner of the room behind the door. Rusty then placed his assault rifle on the table, knowing he would sit on the stool that accompanied it to clean his weapon. Rusty’s jacket soon was on, thrown over the stool for safe keeping, even though it’d probably find its way in the trash come morning. Either that or cut up into rags.

        “It is pretty nice in here, yeah.” Rusty agreed, carefully pulling out his tools and sticking them next to his weapon so he could get to work. Rusty switched on the small table light and sat down on the stool and started undoing his laces. As Shea stretched, Rusty raised his eyebrow at her. That looked like it hurt… did it hurt? He wasn’t about to ask her, instead he just sat there taking off his boots.

        It was decided who’d get cleaned up first, and Rusty gave her a nod. “Works for me, I need to give my gun a bit of a once over anyway. Take your time.” He smiled, lifting up for a second to grab his jacket. Turning his head a bit at the sound of the water running, Rusty opened his tool box and began getting out the tools he needed to clean his weapon. He gave the gun the once over, before grabbing up his jacket and quickly tearing a piece off. The sound of his old jacket tearing was rather loud, though it was obvious what he was doing. Once he got his cleaning fluid out, he went about cleaning his gun.

    “News time chiiilllddreeen. Our guys and gals of the Brotherhood have stumbled upon some freaky deaky shit down in the ruins of downtown D.C. A mutant strung up and tortured like something you’d see at a raider camp, and ya know the odd thing? Completely drained of blood, I tell ya, I hate those yellow sonsabitches as much as the next guy but dang that’s creepy,” stated the voice on the quietened radio.

        Rusty listened intently, with a raised eyebrow, before giving a shrug. There were several other news stories, but Rusty just shrugged at them, most seemed fairly ordinary, missing person’s requests, minor announcements from places he’d never heard off and a few advertisements. Soon enough they were back to the music and Rusty went back to concentrating on his gun.

        Rusty jumped a bit as he heard Shea’s voice from the open bathroom door, a fact he had not made himself aware of. He dropped a tool and it landed with a small clang. “Fuck.” Rusty cursed, quickly reaching for it. “Andale huh?” Rusty asked, his voice somewhat muffled as he got on the floor to find the thing. He’d never even heard of Andale, though he assumed it was some suburb on the outside of the city, full of quaint little houses and picket fences. In truth, his ankle felt great right now, though he knew that was because of the med-X. Chances are come morning he’d probably in pain yet again. He then realised how people could get addicted to the stuff, and shuddered a bit. The fear of pain returning was reason enough to want more. Shea then rattled off some places he’d never heard of, and Rusty gave her a grunt of affirmation. “Sounds good to me.” He called.

        When she told him of Talon Company, he gave a nod, not that she could see. “Yeah… parents told me about those assholes. They like to take contracts no one else will… Heard they went after that kid from… uh… that vault. Don’t remember the number.” Rusty told, remembering back to Three Dawg on the radio back when he was… seventeen. Or around there, Rusty didn’t remember, birthdays were never really a thing. He shuddered at the memory. He always had nightmares Talon Company was going to come get him, as well as the mutants… but then, that nightmare actually happened. He shuddered a bit at the thought of the other nightmares coming true. “Ah fuck it…” he murmured to himself. As he heard Shea coming, he turned to her and damn near fell off his chair. “Oh shit!” He breathed quickly turning as he saw the woman with absolutely no concept of bashfulness. Rusty, occupied himself with his gun, noticing it looking a lot cleaner. He had noticed it needed some replacement parts, but for the time being it looked like it could stand. Rusty forced himself himself to stare intently at the gun, cleaning something that had already been cleaned with his dirty rag.

        Hearing Shea tell him the bath was almost full, Rusty nodded a bit, his spine frozen like ice. “I’ll jump in immediately.” He told quickly dragging out his spare clothes from his newly bought backpack. As he turned to go into the bathroom, he realised there was a mirror above the sink. It was just in time to allow him to avert his eye from Shea, who was busy cleaning her top. Rusty made sure to close the door too, though once the sound of her cleaning her gun, Rusty poked a naked arm out of the door. He pointed to his tools in the corner with his assault rifle. “Use my tools, got some cleaning fluid from that guy in the market place… Should be good for ya.” He suggested though as soon as he was done talking, the door shut on her.

        Rusty took his time in the bathroom; the faint sound of splashing could be heard on the other side. Several minutes past and there wasn’t a voice from the bathroom, until suddenly Rusty came out. Looking as fresh as daisies, Rusty was now dressed in a simple grey t-shirt, and black pants. His wet hair clung to the top of his head, and the bandages had obviously been retied. Rusty threw his torn up clothing to one side next to his bags until he decided upon what to do. Rusty kept his eye of Shea, through fear of seeing more of her. “So uh… tell me about the places where we’re going… ‘cause I’ve never heard of them. You must’a gone there since you know your way around them, huh?” He asked, walking over to his bag and pulling out a bottle of scotch he’d kept from back in the maintenance room in the metro. He then grabbed some glasses that were hotel property and sat down next to Shea on the couch. Holding the bottle up to her, he offered her some before pouring some for himself.

        It would probably be time for them to sleep sooner or later, and Rusty refrained from asking about it… though he did look at the bed a few times. Maybe he could just get away with sleeping on the couch…