Lighthouse - Brother Abraham

“Brother Reed, Sister Ada,” Abraham called out, a few heads turned at the fire pit. “We are returning to the Crater.” One moved to where Abraham stood.

“Why is there an Inquisitor here?” Adad asked curtly, tilting her head and crossing her arms.

“Because Brother Quaid must answer for his crimes no doubt.”

“What am I supposed to tell everyone? Can’t exactly go around saying that till he answers for them now can I?” There was the sound of thunder, Abraham glanced at the sky.

“Tell them I am under investigation then.” she widened her eyes and looked around to make sure no one else had heard.

“Why in Atom’s name would you want me to say that?” He pulled is robes closely around him and pulled up his hood

“Just do it.” he looked her in the eyes and leaned in, “The only thing you should be focused on is getting Brother Reed and making ready to leave.” Thunder cracked again, “Now let’s go.” she furrowed her brow and stepped away, back to the others calling out to Reed. Abraham turned and moved to find Gretchen, she was leaning against the door, unsubtly attempting to eavesdrop.

“Sister Gretchen,” she stepped back from the door and looked at Abraham, he moved towards her. “If the Inquisitor asks my whereabouts tell him I’ve gone back to Crater House.”

“You’re leaving already.” Gretchen’s voice was pained.

“Yes, no pass my word along and answer any questions he asks you.” She stepped back, her eyes darting about.

“I don’t understand, why is an Inquisitor here? What is going on?”

“Just do as I say,” And without another word Abraham turned and walked away.
-----------
Light House - Brother Quaid
"Lastly, brother, what do you say to these allegations? Have you seen any truth to the rumors that your congregation has been attacking nonbelievers? And if so, why?" Quaid raised his eyebrows, a bit surprised at the Inquisitor’s direct line of questioning.

“Well you are right, we deal with the unfaithful on a daily basis here. It is a burden, but one we must endure.” Quaid shifted himself, leaning forward and sitting in a less reclined and relaxed position.

“My congregation suffers from a constant lack of supplies, a problem we must address ourselves and solve to our own satisfaction. “ Quaid broke eye contact with the Inquisitor for a moment, “Though it is not a major issue and certainly not one the High Confessor need concern himself with.” He glanced at his gamma gun then back to the Inquisitor.

“Our main issue is the one of our defense, the Commonwealth is a violent place, unlike the Capital Wasteland it has not been swept clean of its raider clans and mutant dens. We must defend ourselves.” Quaid nodded as if to himself, “And it is for this reason that we have sometimes taken to arms against the unbelievers. Faith alone cannot protect you here, you must have firepower.” These last words Quaid spoke directly into the Inquisitor’s eye-holes, almost as if in warning.

“As far as our relationship with the locals I can say it is strained at best, they may not look it, but every settler in the region is a raider when food gets scarce. Our retaliation against them is no doubt the source of these rumors. They have suffered Atom’s justice and though complain that the judgement was unfair or too harsh.” Quaid leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Who are they to judge our God? And our vengeance?”

Ace Makovich – Salem Clinic

Ace waited by the stairs, waiting for the doc to finish with his current patient. He had only been in the old church building once, and that was to run a diagnostic of the turrets for Barney. With all these new people around, we’ll have to expand the parameters of the targeting computers. They would need to add new profiles for all the newcomers; otherwise they would get shot at night when turrets are put on alert.

As he waited, the doctor turned to him, "I believe you said something about a head injury correct? And your name?"

“Name’s Ace Makovich, I run the diner in town. Not used to seeing so many people about, so I am sorry for barging in,” Ace said as he extended his arm to shake the doctor’s hand.

“As I was saying before, I went hunting and may have had a bit too much and a radstag showed up. It slammed me into a tree. Doesn’t seem I broke anything, but my head hit the rough bark and I was bleeding.” Ace lowered his head to show the doctor the top of his head, “Figured I’d get checked out just to be safe.”

Dr. Arthur West - Salem Church
“As I was saying before, I went hunting and may have had a bit too much and a radstag showed up. It slammed me into a tree. Doesn’t seem I broke anything, but my head hit the rough bark and I was bleeding.” Ace lowered his head to show the doctor the top of his head, “Figured I’d get checked out just to be safe.”

"Ah I see," Arthur replied as he put on a new pair of rubber gloves, "In that case have a seat please. How hard do you think you hit?"

Carefully, Arthur inspected Ace's headwound and carefully began cleaning the blood away to get a better look at it, "Well," He said thoughtfully, "Its a rather nasty cut but not overly serious. You shouldn't need stitches but I'll need to properly clean it to prevent infection. Although, you could still have a concussion from it. You aren't feeling overly dizzy, nauseous, or drowsy are you?"

Arthur then spent the next hour or so cleaning and dressing Ace's headwound, and wrapping it in a clean bandage. He also spent a considerable amount of time checking his coordination and general wherewithal by having him walk in straight lines, say complicated tongue twisters, and check his sensitivity to light. Once he was satisfied he didn't have a concussion he had him sit back down in the chair.

"Well aside from your cut I'd say your head is fine. I'm still concerned about the rest of you however if you were slammed into the tree. You don't appear to be in any immediate pain, which is good, but I should still check for internal bleeding and possible fracturing. Its possible you might have suffered something just as serious and not even realize it. Go ahead and take off your shirt so I can take a better
look."

His body was bruised and there were several minor scrapes to his torso that could easily be remedied but aside from that Ace looked fine. Arthur felt around his arms and back for any possible broken bones and also had him breathe in and out deeply to see if he had any chest pain. What interested Arthur though, was not the injuries he sustained, but a particular tattoo that the man had on his upper left arm. It was a symbol that he was, unfortunately, quite familiar with: The gears and sword of The Brotherhood of Steel. Along with the words "Lost Hills". That, he didn't know.

Ace seemed to catch him looking at the tattoo and Arthur immediately caught himself and went back to his examination. Trying his best to avoid conversation about it,

"Well, all in all I'd say you're alright Mr. Makovich. Your injuries should heal up nicely without issue. I will ask you to come back in a day or so however to allow me to change the bandages on your head however and to make sure that wound is healing up, but other than that you should be fine. But I'd suggest taking it easy for a few days. Although I understand that above gr...out here you can't always take time that way."

Rook waved as the woman left him to his devices. With axe in hand, he was working on cutting down several of the trees. With each one that was felled, he would carry it to the flatbed and lay it across. He had a lot in mind, and he was hoping others would arrive soon enough. He was not the best at this when he was alone.

The axe would raise and fall several times, working on cutting off the branches and stripping off parts of the bark. He knew the bark could hide a number of things, but he wanted that off so it was easier to attach things to it later. With the first tree taken care of, he would push all the branches down to the ground, leaving the bark for a different pile. These would make for great kindling later.

This whole process took nearly an hour. His physical power was such that he could do these things without much issue, but it was time consuming. Sure, explosives would work, but that would damage the tree and make it mostly useless for what they needed to do. With the first tree taken care of, he would move to the second, and repeat the process until he had six of them cut down and on the flat bed, ready to be used for the wall.

He sat on the edge of the flat bed, giving himself a few moments to rest and relax. He had to pace himself, if he didn't, he would become useless if someone attacked while he was working. Drinking another bottle of water, he would set the plastic bottle aside, looking to the sky for a moment and seeing if there was going to be rain any time soon.

“Rook needs to get this working sooner. Maybe Old Man has some ideas... Or some lights! Lights would make it a lot better for Rook to work later. And then can use the lights to defend Salem by making the road show in the darkness.”

Ace Makovich – Salem

The doctor asked Ace to have a seat as he put on a new pair of rubber gloves. Ace found that strange, as it was rare for a wasteland doctors to take time to do such a thing. However, Ace disregarded it, and was happy to be before a doctor concerned with hygiene.

The doctor then spent the next hour or so cleaning and dressing Ace's head wound, and wrapping it in a clean bandage. He then checked Ace’s coordination by having him walk in a straight line and had him repeat tongue twisters. He also, checked his sensitivity to light by flashing a light on his eyes.

Next, the doctor had Ace remove his shirt and thoroughly checked him out for other injuries. It had been a long time since Ace had had a proper physical. Last time was in Hidden Valley after the Brotherhood had been routed from Helios One. As he was reminiscing about his former life, he noticed the doctor become fixated on his left arm. A chill ran down his spine, he had forgotten of the tattoo he had gotten when he finished his training as a young man.

The doctor was finished examining him, and Ace quickly began to put on his shirt. He was too worried about the tattoo to notice or pay attention to what the doctor had said. Ace walked backwards to the stairs as he attempted to list to the doctor.

Ace clasped his hands and nodded, “Well doc, its been a pleasure. Please come down to the diner when you get a chance so I can pay for your services and offer you a free meal.”

Ace turned around and headed down. He had always kept his background secret, not even Barney knew of it. The Easter Brotherhood had done an awful job making friends in the commonwealth, and most wastelanders wouldn’t be able to comprehend that he once belonged to a different faction.

He lit a cigarette and headed for the diner. He unlocked the door, and headed for the cellar and brought some of the meat upstairs to the prep area. He then went p the main switch and turned on all the lights and the jukebox playing Diamond City radio.

He finished smoking and started prepping the food. As he was paring some of the radstag meat, Barney came into the diner and took a seat on stool at the counter. “About time you opened up. Damn place is more often closed than opened,” Barney grumbled as he lit his pipe. Ace rolled his eyes and got back to work.

Eliza Weaver
Salem, Massachusetts




Eliza snapped back into consciousness as the woman did her best to revive her. Instinctively Eliza reached for her weapon but she was too weak to raise the revolver up to defend herself. She was having a hard time getting her bearings after everything that happened, and her wounds were still bleeding. It was everything Eliza would do to try and keep herself awake. Her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, and her head was spinning so fast she felt like she was going to hurl. She began to mumble through the haze in her head, her unlit cigarette falling onto her lap.




Her wounds showed no sign of healing themselves, and Eliza wasn’t too keen on the idea of going to see a doctor. In her opinion, everything a doctor could do for her, she could do for herself. Except now she was willing to admit that she may need a little help. She was starting to shiver and her skin was cold and clammy. Shock was setting in and with it her death. As much as it hurt to swallow she was fortunate that this woman came poking around and found her.



Lorelei furrowed her brow but did not question Eliza’s judgment. She reached for the cigarette that rested on her thigh and propped it back into the woman’s mouth. She reached for her lighter and gave Eliza a smoke. After the rather odd request had been carried out, Lorelei shook Eliza’s shoulders again to ensure she hadn’t drifted back into sleep.

Lorelei reached into her pack and retrieved the small amount of medical supplies she had on her – tourniquets, a roll of bandage material, and a nearly-empty bottle of disinfectant. “I know the drill, but what do you want?” Lorelei peered down at Eliza, studying her face and her labored breathing. She looked highly durable, to say the least. She was not reacting heavily to her gunshot wounds and the woman’s muscle-tone was quite apparent.

While waiting for Eliza to articulate her plans, Lorelei re-did her bun, catching the loose strands of hair that had fallen onto her forehead for the task at hand. She rubbed the back of her neck and took a deep breath. It had been some time since she had needed to do anything of the sort to another person. She had been alone for a very long time and it hadn’t been necessary since her youngest years.

Eliza took a long draw on the cigarette reducing half of it to smoldering ash before blowing a plume of smoke out of her nostrils. She was still shivering as she smoked her cigarette to calm her nerves. Eliza knew exactly how to treat injuries like the ones she had so that’s not what bothered her. It was the fact that she was placing so much into the hands of someone she doesn’t know.



Eliza let out a low sigh as she started to talk through the cigarette in her mouth. “I’m going to need to lay down first. My calf needs to be over my heart, that’ll slow the bleeding down. Although first we need to get my pants off.” Realizing what she just said might’ve thrown of the women Eliza stayed serious and explained why. “We’re going to have to tourniquet my leg and we can’t have clothing getting in the way of it.”

Eliza undid her belt and handed it to the woman. “Use this as a tourniquet. I’ve used it before and it’s the right size. No offense but yours looks too wide, and I don’t know how well you can tie them off.” She shifted her weight to try and lay down but the pain in her abdomen was sharper than she thought it would be. She reeled with pain as the ashes from her cigarette fell onto her and started to burn holes through her clothing.



Lorelei did a double-take upon hearing Eliza’s request, this one every bit as outlandish as the last, but her confused expression settled into a slow nod. “Okay.” She quickly wiped away the falling ashes the best she could. She set Eliza’s belt onto the ground and took a deep breath. She crawled over to Eliza’s side and cradled her arms around her back. She gently assisted her to the ground, using her own arms to cushion the very slow descent into the floor.

“So…you want…okay.” I’ve got this. Lorelei did the work herself, unbuttoning Eliza’s jeans and attempting to pull them off, gripping onto the material and tugging. She did everything in her power to avoid being distracted, attempting to keep from lingering too long in the action and getting it over quickly, but she could not escape a slight awkward blush as she worked. It was going to take a good deal of effort to get Eliza back to health.



Eliza took her hand off of her abdomen where she was attempting to slow the bleeding from her wound and put both arms at her sides, hands flat on the floor while she pushed back and away from the women. After a minor struggle and more pain Eliza’s pants were off and she clasped her hand back down on her abdomen causing blood to seep in between her fingers and run onto the floor. With her pants removed Eliza was now getting cold enough for her to start shivering. What little body heat she had left escaped into the frigid blood-soaked floorboards of the decrepit building.



Lorelei inspected the damage – the bullet had traveled straight through her leg, mere inches above her knee, leaving a grisly wound behind. She noticed that Eliza had been somewhat spared her decency by her pair of underwear, but her attention returned to the wound. Eliza began to drift back into sleep.

Lorelei shook Eliza’s shoulders again and huffed. “Don’t you drift off on me. This will be no good if you’re asleep.” She grimaced. “Not that this is *good* to begin with.” She reached for a piece of cloth from her pouch. “This will not feel so good, but I need you to lift your leg.” She entered a kneeling position. “Balance it over my shoulder and I will apply pressure to the wound.” She gently grabbed a hold of one of Eliza’s calves and began to lift it. “You will have to do some of the rest, I am afraid.”

Eliza left out an agonizing scream as she lifted her leg onto Lorelei’s shoulder. She was fighting the urge to blackout again, this time from the pain. “Oh… fuck, I need another smoke!” Eliza kept her hand firm on her abdomen hoping that the bleeding would stop soon. She had balled up the lower part of her shirt and was using it as an impromptu dressing on the wound, although now it had been soaked through with blood. At this point Eliza was starting to pass out again, she had spilled too much of her blood. For the first time in a long time she was afraid, afraid that she was going to die. She reached out to grab Lorelei’s arm with her blood-soaked hand, but she had lost the strength she needed to hold onto it.



Lorelei did not oblige upon Eliza’s wish to have another huff of her cigarette. She methodically pressed the piece of cloth against the bullet wound and took another deep breath. Upon Eliza reaching for her hand, smearing blood across Lorelei’s forearm in the process, Lorelei gripped the slipping hand and held onto it. “Hey. Hey,” she said in a mellow voice. “You’re going to be fine. I’ve got you.” She smiled and her eyes attempted to meet Eliza’s, although she was probably in a far too great deal of pain to look up at her.



Why it hadn’t occurred to Lorelei to scream for help, she had no idea. But she hadn’t the slightest clue what this woman had gotten herself into…if anyone was after her, or if she had been attacked by someone in town. She knew what it meant to need to be subtle. She kept the crisis between the two of them.

Eliza’s tear-filled eyes met Lorelei’s, they just stared at her searching for strength that Eliza was quickly losing. Her hand faintly gripped Lorelei’s, she didn’t want to let go but she could feel herself losing control of her hands. She couldn’t apply the pressure she needed to on her abdomen anymore so more blood was rushing from the wound. With what last bit of strength Eliza had she tried reaching for the dog-tags she had dropped when she crawled inside the building, but they were just out of her grasp. She let out a pathetic sigh as she closed her eyes, and lost consciousness again. Her hand slipped from Lorelei’s grasp and fell to the floor, causing a slight splash when it disturbed the crimson pool of blood around her.

“No, no, no. You’re going to be fine. Stay with me.” Lorelei kept firm pressure against the leg-wound and grimaced. She had no clue where this compassion for this nameless woman had erupted from, but she looked so strong, yet so completely helpless in unison. It reminded her of herself, perhaps, in the days when power beyond her control took her health and her happiness away from her. There was something about her that evoked a protective urge that she wasn’t quite aware she still possessed.

Lorelei shook Eliza again, to no avail; she received, at least initially, no response. She kept the woman’s leg balanced over her shoulder but reached forward, lifting the blood-soaked fabric-line of her shirt and revealing her belly, the other bullet wound clearly residing in the corner. She grabbed another piece of cloth from her pouch and applied pressure. This was all she could do, now. Press against both wounds, and hope to god that they would clot…that she wouldn't bleed out. Eliza was adamant against sending for a doctor, even in the face of death. It was this, or nothing. She frowned and took deep breaths. “Please. Stay with me.”

Lorelei, yet again, received no response. In turn, the wounds had clotted -- the blood flow stopped, but not before Eliza had lost a decent deal of blood. A pool of it resided under her. Lorelei gently set Eliza back down and moved her slightly over, away from the pool of blood that had accumulated onto the floor. She had gotten plenty of it on herself -- on her arms and on her jeans from where she sat. She wrapped a fresh piece of cloth around Eliza's leg-wound and sat next to her, watching her from the side. Eliza's figure sank to the side, her head falling onto Lorelei's shoulder.

This entire outing had been strange and complex -- Lorelei had shared what could be death (or a near-brush-with-it) with someone she barely knew. But being as close to the end as Eliza was, Lorelei seemed to have gotten a magnifying glass on this woman's being without having even shared so much as a conversation with her. She sat there and held a rag against Eliza's head and moving the woman's stray strands of hair out of her face. There was nothing left she could do except wait and hope she hadn't failed this new friend of hers. It was her first day. She was no medic, but she did not want to fail her.

Many tense, quiet moments had passed until Eliza regained consciousness. She awoke to find her head slumped onto Lorelei’s shoulder, her warm body drew Eliza closer to her. She was freezing and felt too weak to stand, and as shameful as it made her feel she positioned her arm across Lorelei’s waist and attempted to pull herself closer to her.

Eliza was too weak, with every movement making her feel as if she was about to lose consciousness again. So as much as she wanted to pull herself closer to Lorelei for warmth she couldn't. Even to speak seemed impossible, to her it seemed like she couldn't form the right words in her head. So, she left her arm draped across Lorelei's lap, it was lifeless and cold like the rest of Eliza's body all her strength had been sapped from her and scattered across the now soiled ground.

All Eliza could do was continue to lay her head on the woman's shoulder. Its warmth was pleasant, but not enough to revitalize Eliza. She started to shiver again, and without any control over her body her teeth began to chatter. It was these signs as well as Eliza's faint, shallow breaths that let Lorelei know that the woman she fought so hard to save was still here with her, for now.

Lorelei Jones - Weaver Residence

Lorelei herself had drifted off into sleep. The exhaustion of working to save a stranger’s life—let alone the fact that she herself didn’t even remotely resemble a qualified physician—had sucked every bit of energy left inside of her. Her cheek rested atop Eliza’s head, rooted in the woman’s dirty-blonde hair. She didn’t have high hopes; Lorelei understood that she had done too little. She was still vexed, regardless; the woman had begged to stay away from the good doctor. Odd. What Lorelei had done by healing and giving warmth to this woman was wade into an enigma. She had much left to learn about her, if Eliza were to survive.

It all felt strange. Life and death had been toyed with in on a night like this, in a town where they were surrounded by supposedly friendly neighbors. Yet they were alone. This was clearly done by choice, but Lorelei could not help but feel like living among a community in this world was no different than the isolated days she'd spent near Silverton with Clementine. Salem, until it could be forged by strong relationships between self-elected pillars of the community, was nothing more than a free-for-all.

Eventually, Lorelei lazily opened her eyes and groaned under her breath. Eliza was closer, now – her immeasurably cold arm wrapped around Lorelei's waist and her hand resting on her lap. It wasn’t affectionate—at least Lorelei didn’t think so—it was only necessity. Appreciation, at best. Eliza desperately needed Lorelei's warmth. Meanwhile, it had become dark outside. Moonlight invaded the ruined apartment-building and gifted rather jarring lighting to the hallway. She turned her head and raised an eyebrow. The woman was awake. Lorelei had so many words built up inside her; so many possible ways of articulating and exclaiming everything. She could not decide how to proceed and instead settled on something slightly simpler.

“Hi.”

Eliza didn’t know what to say; she was cold and still in pain. As much as she fought against her death, she had still given up in the end. Why was she still here? Why did she wake up? Most importantly, why did this woman save her? She had so many questions, and she was certain that the woman did as well. However, Eliza’s focus was elsewhere. She was facing the reality of her vulnerability. Having stared death in it’s all-too-familiar face and survived, Eliza was tempted by arrogance. However, from her experience she knew better. Death could only be cheated for so long and Eliza certainly wasn’t out of the woods yet.

Eliza was still freezing to death, or at least that’s what it felt like, seeing as how her breath was starting to become visible in the salty ocean air. It wasn’t helping that her bare skin was left exposed on the frigid floorboards. Eliza just wished she could pull herself closer to Lorelei. That she had the strength to embrace her, but it took every bit of her strength just to keep herself awake. Every shallow breath felt as if it were her last, and when Eliza tried to answer the woman all she could muster from her dry cracked lips was a weak, barely audible “hello.”

Lorelei used her free arm to unclip her water-filled canteen and offered it to Eliza. She placed her hand across the woman’s cheek. To say that she was still frigid cold would have been an understatement. She wrapped her arm around Eliza’s shoulder, pulling her closer and attempting to keep her warm. She sighed and remained quiet for a while, watching the moonlight invade the room.

After her observant little stint was over, Lorelei pushed a few loose strands of hair out of Eliza’s face. “Now, what is this pretty thing doing with two of those?” she pointed at the pair of gunshot wounds. She lifted the bottom of the woman’s shirt, perusing the wound on her belly to make sure it hadn’t started bleeding again. Both were stable. If Lorelei could keep her healthy, Eliza would live.

“I’m Lorelei. Lorelei Jones.”

Eliza wasn't even strong enough to raise Lorelei's canteen to her lips. It was embarrassing that someone had to help her drink but she cherished every drop of water that crossed her lips. The water was refreshing but it still didn't help keep her awake. Her eyes were dark and sunken from exhaustion and it was everything Eliza could do to keep herself awake and alert. She was afraid to fall asleep for fear that she wouldn't wake back up.

Even the cold wasn't enough to keep Eliza awake, but the pain she was experiencing certainly made up for it. Every breath exacerbated the pain from her abdominal injury and Eliza didn't even want to try and move her leg. She could tell from the searing pain that she couldn't move it, she'd be lucky if she could drag herself across the floor without screaming at this point. Now she just hoped that Lorelei didn't notice that the tears in her eyes were getting worse because of the pain. It wasn't something she could control, but it still made her feel horrible. Eliza never cried like this, she didn't know she still could.

With Eliza having finished up with the canteen and Lorelei returning it to her side Eliza leaned her head back onto Lorelei's shoulder. She enjoyed the woman's presence, but she still wished that Lorelei would pull her closer. She thought about saying something to her but she was embarrassed to, even in the state she was in where it made sense to ask. So instead she let out a meager sigh before she softly spoke through chattering teeth.

“I'm Eliza.”

Lorelei gave a warm smile. She wrapped her arms around Eliza’s shivering form and gave her a warm embrace. She could relate, in a way, to this woman’s total despair and loss of direction. Years ago, she had fallen into the same void. But she had grown elite at shedding off her old worlds and adopting new ones. It was a required skill to have longevity in the new world.

“How about we get you to a bed? Is this your home?”

Finally, it felt better than she could ever it imagine it would. Eliza closed her eyes and for a brief moment everything felt substantially better. Lorelei's embrace sent a tingling sensation through Eliza's body as she warmed her up. Although the sensation was fleeting and Eliza's pain quickly returned to her, the well-meant embrace now sent surges of pain throughout her body as her hyperactive nerves responded to the pressure against her wounds. Eliza didn't want to pull away from her though, she couldn't. All she could do was let out a tense breath laced with anguish, but for as much as it hurt Eliza wanted to fall asleep in her arms. To her nothing about it was sexual, she was just instinctively drawn to Lorelei's infectious warmth. Still shivering and grimacing through the pain Eliza got out a short response to Lorelei. As much as Eliza wanted to pass out where they sat, she knew they weren't safe here.

"Third floor."

Lorelei reluctantly pulled away from Eliza’s grasp and stood. She groaned as she did so; she hadn’t been upright in hours. “Right.” She braced herself. Lorelei was not in the best shape of her life. She was far, far from it. It would be notoriously difficult to carry someone taller and more muscular than her. But she had to make do. Eliza could not stay here. She picked up Eliza's belongings -- her dog tags, her bloodstained pants, and her revolver. Without dwelling on them, she shoved them into her pack. She stood in front of Eliza’s now crumpled form, helped lay her flat onto the ground, and efficiently pulled her into a fireman’s carry. “Ugh!” She winced as she tried to stand. Four flights of stairs seemed like a hundred with this woman on her back. Surely there was a better way to do this -- but there wasn't time.

Slowly, Lorelei waddled into the lobby and began to climb. She took each step extremely slowly, already wincing from fatigue with the weight on her back. Each time she climbed a flight, she repositioned Eliza and ensured that the weight was as even as possible. On the last flight, she missed a step and her balance stuttered. “No, no, no.” She swung her body forward to fight the backward propulsion and regained her balance. “Whew.” She continued upstairs, to the third floor where she found an open door to one of the apartments. She shuffled inside as quickly as possible and kicked the door shut behind her. She raced to the bed and gently lay Eliza down. Behind the bedframe, a window facing the ocean was pierced by the limited light from outside.

Lorelei then helped Eliza achieve a comfortable position, pulling her form to the middle of the bed. She set her canteen down on the covers and smiled. “Have as much of it as you’d like. You’re safe.” She once again pushed Eliza’s hair out of her face and adjusted the pillows underneath her head. She emptied Eliza's belongings out of her pack, set the dogtags on an end table, and placed the pants in a corner in the room. looked around the bedroom. She found a frayed armchair and slid it next to the bed, sitting down next to Eliza. She took the woman’s hand in her own and offered a warm, sympathetic smile. “You’re going to live. I’ll make sure of it.”

Every step made Eliza feel as if she was being shot all over again, she tried to maintain her composure but there were a few instances where she left out a loud moan. She knew they would be safer on the third floor though, that's why she set up camp there in the first place. This building was huge, with a countless number of run down and decrepit rooms. With Eliza staying on the third floor she stood a better chance of hearing an intruder before they got to her, but it was moments like these that made her regret the decision. When Lorelei laid Eliza out onto her bed she exhaled heavily and continued to shiver, the nights were cold up here for her.... alone. She never kept a fire going for fear of being discovered, so Eliza piled layers of blankets on top of her worn out mattress, but right now she couldn't even move. Her whole body ached, and her muscles felt like they had been stretched and dried in the sweltering summer sun. Lorelei fortunately covered Eliza up with the assorted blankets and afghans, leaving Eliza's hand slightly exposed while she held it.

Eliza was still shivering as her body struggled to warm itself up, she was frozen to the bone but it put her at ease knowing that she was home now, and that Lorelei seemed to be looking out for her. She even grabbed her things from downstairs, especially the dog-tags, her traveling memorial for the dead. They brought her so much pain, but they were her cross to bear. For now, she chose to focus her attention on Lorelei, the woman appeared to be so caring. With her warm smile and affection. Eliza felt as if she didn't deserve any of it but it still helped to put her mind at ease. She was still afraid to fall asleep, afraid that she wasn't going to wake up or that when she did Lorelei would be gone. Now for one of the few times in her life Eliza was willing to admit that she couldn't get through this on her own, she needed Lorelei and that scared her.

Lorelei waited. She waited for Eliza to drift off into deep sleep, her ice-cold hand still resting in hers. She perused Eliza’s bedroom. It was really something – she’d clearly lived here for a long time. Eliza had evidently converted a living room into a massive, campy bedroom, affixed with breadcrumbs of her hunting lifestyle. Lorelei was still curious as to why Eliza had kept it secret; gunshot wounds aside, the room gave off the aura of a very put-together person. Who knows.

Lorelei remained awake through a majority of the night, ever watchful of Eliza, arbitrarily checking her pulse and reaching under the blanket to survey her two wounds while she slept. She waited. She hadn’t the faintest idea what exactly she was waiting for; it was a peculiar feeling. But the last thing she would do is let herself fall asleep.

Tom Sykes – Road to Salem

“Let’s go you fat beast, you’re slowing me down,” Tom shouted at his Brahmin as it followed alongside him pulling on a large wagon. The Brahmin mooed almost as if it was responding to him. He faced it, “What do you mean I’m slowing you down? I ain’t getting older, ya fat cow.”

His caravan guards laughed as the old man and the Brahmin argued. They were less tense now, after all they passed the crater and where not hassled by the Children of atom. They had reached the museum of witchcraft, when one of the guards put up his arm and motioned to hold position.

Tom took out a pair of binoculars, and looked in the direction the guard pointed. He could see what looked like a super mutant at the fork in the road leading to the diner. The two guards were now on full alert, “Let’s carefully go up the left coast that seems to be clear. Let see if we can find Barney, before we head into a firefight.”

They headed up the left coast very slowly and carefully, keeping an eye on the mutant at all times. It seemed he was doing something to the trees in the area. They made it to the convalescence home, and they hadn’t been spotted yet. Once there they quickly headed up the road and made their way to rooks home, but it was empty.

He knew that Barney spent a lot of time over by the church, and they made their way there soon. They saw him sitting in the diner, and he burst inside. One of the guards pushed Ace out of the way and opened a window and pointed his rifle at the mutant. The other guard was outside, and crouched around the corner taking is position.

“What the hell is going on here?” Barney asked as he stood up and prepped his rifle.

“I tell you what’s going on,” Tom said as he shut off the loud jukebox. As he turned it off, the sound of chopping wood and clattering could be heard coming from behind the diner. “You got a greenskin behind here readying for an attack!”

Steve Cooper- Salem

Steve pulled on leather harness but for whatever reason the unicorn did not want to move from this spot...

Rather than anger the creature straight away (and risky a kicking.) Steve decided to look and see what could be brothering the “unicorn” but looking around the only thing of note nearby was the old apartment block that had blood on the door.

Blood on the door?

Having been awestruck by the unicorn Steve had previously missed the blood trail that led from roughly where the unicorn was standing to the apartment block. It would appear the rider wasn’t shot off but had limped into that building...

Should go and check

Holstering his level action rifle Steve took out his deagle pistol and slowing approached the door. Places like this where hotspots for feral ghouls, seemlying able to survive off radiation alone the fuckers could lie in waiting in apartment blocks like this for years before some unlucky Sap disturbed them.

Silently Steve opened the door and slowly entered the apartment block, it was pretty clear someone had straggled in, knocked over some stuff and then fell down a short distance ahead with there being a small blood puddle on the flood but seemlying No body...

Injured... wouldn’t have left the creature so they must be resting in one of these apartments.

Walking as quietly as could Steve approached the room closet to the blood pile and opened the door. Inside was a one bedroom apartment, seemlying unlooted from the war judging by undisturbed skeletons watching TV and the un-opened Nuka cola sitting on the nearby coffee table.

should come back here for parts

Pocketing the Nuka cola Steve checked the next few apartment, one had seemlying been empty (or looted) since the bombs dropped, one had its owner skeleton hanging from the ceiling fan and some sort of brawl had occurred in the last one with most of the furniture and what was left of a skeleton lying broken on the floor but there was still no sign of the unicorn rider in any of the rooms..

Not wanting to search another 50 apartment or accidently stubble across a pack of sleeping Ghouls Steve decided to call out “hello anyone here?” hoping to get their attention “I found you’re...err unicorn I know you’re injured, I can help... there is a doctor in town I can take you too!"

Unsurprising there was no answer

With the blood on the floor and on the Unicorn leather seat the ride must have lost of alot of blood by now... if they hadn’t died it would only be a matter of time. Looking out the widow it was dark now no point continuing the search when Steve could back in a few days and smell out the corpse.

Most of their stuff is probably on the leather seat thing anyway... not worth it.
"Well guessing you're dead then... I'll be taking the unicorn!" Steve joking shouted out to himself as he left the apartment block.

Popping a buffout Pill Steve grabbed the leather harness again and whilst the unicorn struggled at the start eventually it understood they were going and the pair slowly made their way back to town and towards the dinner.

Approaching the dinner (which was now open) it appeared that some sort of trader had arrived and set up shop. The super mutant was also lurking nearby but thankfully it had seemlying not attempted to eat anyone yet.

“What the hell is that?” One of the caravan guards called out as he noticed Steve approach with the creature “some sort of one headed radstag?”

What the fuck is radstag?

“No I think it’s... an Unicorn.” Steve replied as he tried the creature’s loose harness strap to one of lampposts just outside the diner.

“Unicorn? Then why doesn’t it have a horn?”

“I don’t know...Radiation? I just recalled the name from a book I read awhile back, for all I know people call them buttstallions or some weird shit.”

“Regardless of what it’s called it’s mine now.” Steve added on as walked up to the counter “speaking of which Ace isn’t it? God only knows when it last ate or what it eats so what do you have for sale?”

“Start with the Vegetables.... Any Melons or carrots? Bound to have something it likes...”

Rook had been... Blissfully unaware of the events happening around him. He had heard them when they first came by, but it was the wrong direction, and a quick look told him he was not in danger, these were traders. If they attacked the town he would know, his hearing was still quite good. Even unarmed, he knew he was better in combat than nearly anyone there... At least in hand to hand.

So, axe would continue to rise and fall, chopping off tree limbs and stripping bark. When this tree was done, it was time to move them. He was unaware of the men who had guns trained on him, and if they shot at him... It was not going to be a good day for anyone involved. He grabbed one of the logs, lifting it onto his shoulder and walking several steps to the edge of the flatbed, before carefully setting it down on the ground below. He would need to bury it, but he lacked a shovel at the moment. Plus he had no cement. That was a problem.

With a shake of his head, he walked to the other side of the flatbed, repeating the process so there were two trees resting on the ends of the flatbed trailer. Wiping his brow, he looked to the sky and then to the ground. It was getting late, later than he had expected. Only the one girl had arrived. Oh well. More work tomorrow.

Stepping down from the trailer, he would pick up his white flag and uncover his stash of caps. Assuming no one shot at him, he would start towards the diner now, still looking to buy some meat so he could augment his stew. It was getting rather thin after all, and this was why he came to town in the first place!

Dr. Arthur West - Salem Church

After Ace had left, Arthur cleaned his clinic up as best he could and stored away the medical tools he'd used to treat the two patients. He'd only been in the town a few hours and he'd already been busy. He had a feeling this town was going to require a lot more of his services in the future. Perhaps he'd stay a bit longer than a few days.

With seemingly no further patients waiting to be treated, Arthur gave a sigh and walked back down to the first floor of the church. He decided to talk a quick walk to explore the town, seeing as how he'd not yet gotten a chance to do so, and took his pistol with him, just in case.

He stepped out the front door of the church and turned seaside to look towards the ocean. He froze in terror when he saw what was lumbering up and heading towards the diner directly opposite the church. A mutant.

The surprise of seeing one of his experiments coming right at him was horrifying. He hadn't been this close to one since...well, since he'd was working to create them. Even in his abject horror, his analytical mind still raced with with the science of it all. The enhanced muscular structure of the creature, its increased height, strength and, no doubt, brutality and aggression. They were all things he'd measured and toyed with in his lab as he worked to research the Forced Evolutionary Virus and its potential.

As the creature drew closer however, his thoughts turned to darker matters. Ones that were far more human. Did he recognize the creature? Could he remember who it had once been before he'd turned it? Would the creature recognize him?

The mutant was almost upon him now, and Arthur stood rooted to his spot. If the mutant attacked, he knew he wouldn't be able to defend himself. The irony of being killed by the very creatures he'd loosed upon The Commonwealth was not lost on him, and were he in a different state of mind, he might even find the dark humor in it. But at the moment, all he could think about was being torn apart, limb from limb, by the monstrosity of his own making.

Lorelei Jones - Weaver Residence

The night drew on and silence filled Eliza’s house. Lorelei let go of Eliza’s hand and sank into her armchair. What a fucking day, that was. The first twenty-four hours of Salem had brought Lorelei an excruciating amount of interest. Most of it had accumulated into the form of this girl – this quiet, attractive woman who’d still managed to be charming within an inch of death.

A voice reverberated from the lower depths of the tower. “…Hello? Anyone here?” Lorelei placed her desert eagle on her lap and took a deep breath. She said nothing. The male voice bellowed again. “I found your…unicorn. I know you’re injured. I can help. There’s a doctor I can take you to.” She recognized it. The booming voice belonged to the bloke she’d met earlier – Steve, the man she’d penned ‘Dr. Feelgood’. She didn’t respond. Instead, she let the echoing of Dr. Feelgood’s voice wither away into building and fade into total silence again.

Lorelei understood that if Eliza woke up without her sitting by her side, she’d disintegrate. Just a few hours ago, she had tried to draw a gun on Lora, but was too weak to even lift the barrel. Now, she had fallen asleep with their hands cupped together. A link of trust had been crudely pieced together. Although Lorelei had found said ‘trust’ before, it was not the same. The form that tossed and turned on the bed felt like home to her now, as if Eliza was the only piece of Salem that had cracked through her exterior. True, she’d made friends with the mutant—“Rook”—down on the hill, and she valued that jolly green giant with all of her being, but here was different. She only wanted to protect the girl on the bed.

Still, even with that in mind, Lorelei was suffocating. She hated lingering in the silence, in the stuffy room where Eliza’s sweaty half-naked form had tampered with the serenity of the air. She needed to stroll outside. Perhaps she could catch ‘Dr. Feelgood’ on the ground and tell him the truth; or, at least, some convenient version of it. She stood up. She pulled the covers over Eliza’s shoulder and played with the roots of the woman’s mangy hair. She was tough. She would be all right.

Lorelei crept toward the door and left the room without making a sound. She slipped out of the apartment complex and strolled toward the diner.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on…You’ve got a greenskin behind here readying for an attack!”

Lorelei heard a voice booming from the diner. She squinted and noticed that many silhouettes had inhabited the place. She’d recognized Steve and Barney sitting inside, but none of the others. She raced toward the building with an alarmed look on her face. Once she’d made it to the diner, she folded her arms.

“Calm yourselves. The mutant is not hostile. His name is ‘Rook’ and he’s harvesting materials to help build a barrier. I watched him work this afternoon, myself.” She glared at Tom, the man who she had yet to meet, and pushed past the rest of the group to make her way inside the diner. She sat down on one of the barstools and locked eyes with the man behind the counter.

Lorelei turned her head slightly sideways and furrowed her brow at Ace. “What does a girl have to do around here to get her hands on a strawberry milkshake?” She peered over at Steve and Barney and lazily bowed her head in greeting. "Nice place you've got, by the way."

Ace Makovich - Diner

“Some of us would like to eat before we starve to death,” Barney said as he puffed on his pipe waiting for his food.

“I’m pretty sure Father time will get to you before you starve,” Ace quipped as he stirred a large pot of radstag meat and various vegetables.

As they talked, there was a loud bang as the door to diner slammed open. Ace turned around to see what was happening but before he knew it, he was pushed out of the way as an armed man barged into the open kitchen. He opened the window and pointed his gun to what looked like to be a mutant.

“What the hell is going on here?” Barney asked as he stood up and prepped his rifle.

“I tell you what’s going on,” Tom said as he shut off the loud jukebox. As he turned it off, the sound of chopping wood and clattering could be heard coming from behind the diner. “You got a greenskin behind here readying for an attack!”

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. That there mutant is friendly and means no harm,” Barney replied. As he was talking, a customer walked in as he talked to one of the caravan guards.

Ace turned to the man in his kitchen area and glared at him, “Do you mind? I’d like to finish cooking and you’re in my way.”

The new man walked up to the counter “speaking of which Ace isn’t it? God only knows when it last ate or what it eats so what do you have for sale? Start with the Vegetables.... Any Melons or carrots? Bound to have something it likes...”

Ace leaned over and looked out the window, seeing the creature outside, “That’s a horse. They are extremely rare… What is one doing out east? I only ever saw one out west and it was dying.” He squatted and grabbed a box of vegetables; he grabbed the carrots and handed them to the man, “Carrots ought to work, 5 caps each.”

As he talked a woman walked into the diner, “Calm yourselves. The mutant is not hostile. His name is ‘Rook’ and he’s harvesting materials to help build a barrier. I watched him work this afternoon, myself.” She glared at Tom, and pushed past the rest of the group. She sat down on one of the barstools and locked eyes with Ace.

Lorelei turned her head slightly sideways and furrowed her brow at Ace. “What does a girl have to do around here to get her hands on a strawberry milkshake?” She peered over at Steve and Barney and lazily bowed her head in greeting. "Nice place you've got, by the way."

“I don’t have strawberries, hard to get out here. But I do have plenty of Mutfruits, I can make a shake out of that for 20 caps.” Ace said as he walked over to the fridge and grabbed milk and the fruit. He heard her say 15, he rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders in agreement.

“So Barney, I take it I’m going to have to add this particular mutant to the targeting computer as a friendly? Won’t be easy considering almost all those freaks look similar.” Ace said as he started to prepare the ingredients. He walked over to the blender and put some milk chopped murtfruit, a little ice into a blender. He opened a cupboard and pulled out a blackened container. Inside of it was a finely granulated substance that once went by the name of sugar. It was a rare substance, and he didn’t want others seeing it so he kept it hidden.

He made sure to block it from everyone’s view and added a small scoop of it to the shake. he turned on the old blender and mixed up the ingredients. The old blender had been a pain to fix, especially sharpening the small blades.

He grabbed a clean cup and poured the contents of the blender into it, with plenty left for another 2 shakes. He handed her the drink, and went back to stirring the stew. As he stirred he heard Tom approach the woman, he leaned on the counter and tipped his hat at her, “Well hello young lady. Name is Thomas Beauregard Sykes the III, entrepreneur extraordinary, purveyor of wares far and wide. What might your lovely name be?”

“WHEW,” Brandy wiped sweat from her forehead, “Sure it hot out today, huh Shelby?”

“Yep, sure is,” Shelby slowed to smack the Brahmin’s ass, “Let’s go boy, we can cool off in just a few minutes.”

“I wonder if anyone new has arrived in town.”

Shelby rolled her eyes, “Gee, wouldn’t know, haven’t been there.” She was alright with Brandy, but honestly, the younger woman annoyed her the majority of the time because she often asked too many questions. But, Waylon had to stay back in town at S&W. Luckily the women had found travelers going both to the Sanctuary and two men whom were eagerly willing to accompany them on their way back.

“Well, if there are new folks maybe we can help them get situated. I mean, it will give us something to do,” Brandy pulled the bottom of her tee shirt up and wiped her face.

“Like hide,” Shelby said under her breath.

“What?”

“Nothing, let’s just pick it up a bit, I want to finish the sword I started before we left.”

As they got closer to town they could hear chopping, when they found the source Shelby stopped in her tracks, “Fuck me,” she gasped.

Brandy raised her brow, “I told you I don’t do that.”

“You twit, look,” Shelby grabbed Brandy’s chin and turned her head to see a Super Mutant.

“A Super Mutant,” Brandy’s eyes opened wide. The women were corralled and directed around the mutant and into town by their escorts.

“We need to avoid that area, there could be more and we would be had,” Mike said, the others all agreed and made it into town. When safe in town Brandy ran ahead of the group to the diner.

“DID YOU SEE THE SUPER MUTANT OUT THERE?” She yelled, pushing her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose.

“Easy kid, his name is Rook and he just wants a place to stay. Supposedly he’s not like other green skins, he has been peaceful thus far,” Barney told her.

Her eyes widened again and a smile crept across her face, “You mean…he’s friendly? Is he nice? Did he say how old he was?”

“So far so good, and don’t start with the questions again kid, I have a bunch of riled up folks about him already.”

Brandy nodded, she could see Shelby down at S&W speedily unloading her stuff from the Brahmin, after the last load Shelby rolled down the garage door and disappeared. Brandy giggled, “Shelby is scared of them, well I am to, but if he is friendly I won’t be.” She looked around at all the new faces and waved, “Hi, I’m Brandy; if ya need something fixed I can help ya out. I’m kinda nifty that way. BUT, I don’t mean to be rude, I just have to go and meet this guy.” She turned on her heel but quickly looked back, “Does he talk?” Barney nodded, “Gotcha, oh this is so exciting. Brandy walked to where she could see the mutant; it looked like he was building something. She snapped her fingers and ran to fetch her tool belt and knapsack of tools. Cautiously, she made her way closer until she was sighted, “Hello there, I don’t mean to bother you but the townsfolk told me that you’re friendly?” She swallowed the small lump in her throat and extended her hand, “My name is Brandy, and it is very nice to meet you. Can you use some help?”

Shelby padlocked the bar on the inside of her garage door then slid to the floor with her back against it. “What’s up?” Asked Waylon as he came into the back to see what all the clatter was about, “You alright Shelby? Looks like you saw a ghost.”

She hiked up her thumb, it shook as she motioned outside, “Tha…there,” she let out a deep breath, “there is a fucking Super Mutant out there.”

“Uh,” Waylon rubbed his chin, “Must be the one I heard strolled into town with a white flag,” he pressed his lips together in thought thinking, “Think I heard his name was Rook, maybe he’s Barney’s brother.”

“So now you’re a fucking comedian Waylon? The shit ain’t funny, what if there are more?”

“Well if their all friendly, then I suppose that would good,” he shrugged.

Shelby shook her head no vigorously, “NO, THAT WOULD NOT BE OK WAYLON,” she clutched her chest to catch her breath, “What if he was ousted like we were and they’re coming for him?” Shelby pulled a note from her pocket and looked at, “Or maybe he just got forgotten about like me?” She crumpled up the note and tossed it into her coal forge, it was quickly turned to ash. “That scare the fuck outta me, you know that.”

Waylon sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders; she let her head rest on his shoulder and watched the flame from the note flicker out. “You know I have your back no matter what, be it relationship, fights, whatever.” She sighed and sniffed back tears; Waylon took his free hand and wiped the tears from her eyes while she nodded in agreement, “I know that you know. Salem is a good thing…for both of us. You’re like my sister, I would die for you.”

Shelby sniffed again and wrapped her arms around Waylon, burying her face into his chest, “I know.”

“If anybody knows how rough you’ve had it, it’s me. Speaking of which, how’s the back healing?”

Shelby broke her embrace and leaned forward pulling up her tank-top, “They can still be tender once in a while, but they’re alright I guess.” Waylon ever so lightly ran his hands across the lashing wounds, still pink from Calypso and breaking up her tattooed wings on her back. She shimmied the top back down. “Paid for it and never got it.”

“C’mon, let’s go to the diner and grab a bite to eat,” Waylon stood up and offered his hand, “I heard Ace got some Radstag and other shit. Thank God, Mirelurk was wearing thin on me; I nearly closed shop to go hunting myself.”

“Surprised he can even shoot anything other than a shot of whiskey,” Shelby quipped back, “I dunno Waylon, that mutant is out there.”

“Don’t worry about him; if he is really going to stay around town, you’re going to have to meet him eventually. I’ll be right there with you, both 1911’s on my hips, you know I’m a quick draw.” Shelby just nodded and went to go upstairs to clean up, Waylon went and flipped the sign and waited out front for Shelby.

She washed up with an old holy washcloth and threw on a pair of cutoff jean shorts and a dark pink tank-top. She looked in the mirror and brushed out her hair, leaving down despite the heat. She joined Waylon out front of S&W and he locked up shop. “What’s up Ace? Heard you actually got something a little different on the menu?” Shelby quietly slid by and plopped down into a corner booth, she traced figured eights on the cleaned up tabletop.

Rook was nearly done for the day. He saw the one people had said was a doctor heading his way as well. When he froze, Rook wondered why he would do that? That was when Rook realized this doctor man probably didn't know what a white flag was! Of course! It was so simple!

Laughing, Rook waved the flag and then waved a hand. "Rook is not here for fighting, Rook is here for living and trading. And Rook is building things. Doctor man has no need to check on Rook. Rook is more healthy than... ummm... very healthy humans!"

With another laugh, Rook looked back to his basic wall frame before he was approached again. He was popular today, and it felt rather good in truth. It felt like they were making an honest effort to be friendly with him. When she finished speaking, Rook held out his hand, taking her own tiny hand to his and giving her a gentle shake.

"Hello Brandy. Rook is Rook. Rook is friendly. Rook is also attempting to make wall for town. Rook needs to get food for tonight however, so he needs to stop work for now." He pondered for a moment. "Unless you are helping Rook, then he can keep working for now."

CELESTE BROWN - Sandy Coves Inn

Celeste watched a female-looking figure walk down the main road, eye her up, but keep going. Celeste waved, but the figure didn't seem to notice. She shrugged, gathered her empty soda bottle, and stretched.

Maybe I should walk around, a bit? See who I can meet? Celeste turned to face the doors to what would become her inn, and she frowned. Forget that. I should make sure the place is in decent shape before I go find folks to stay in it. She made her way back into the inn, pausing briefly at the large standing sign and thinking it would make sense to find a way to cross out, or cover up, "convalescent home." She'd ask the robot.

Celeste entered the small lobby and went up the immediate staircase to the upper floor. She could hardly believe the changes the robot had managed to make in the short amount of time. At least four of the rooms had already been dusted down, the linens changed, and where possible, the windows opened up to allow fresh air to enter. She could hear the robot singing some song she'd never heard before, while he worked in another room.

He was working so well, she thought she'd just leave him to his task and instead, tackle the kitchen and dining hall. Celeste went back down to the main floor and entered the kitchen. She flicked a light switch and was pleasantly surprised that the ancient fluorescents above her head illuminated themselves to life. Then, she took a look into the kitchen, and groaned. The entire place looked as though it hadn't been cleaned properly once before the bombs, and centuries of dirt and dust had attached themselves to a layer of grease and grime that would need to be scraped off. She couldn't even imagine what it could look like if it were clean.

Celeste decided to start small. She looked around and located a trash bin, and started tossing in all the broken dish pieces, empty packaging, and other pieces of trash left strewn on the counter tops. Then, she found an old mop bucket and a third of a carton of ABRAXO industrial grade, and a crusty old dishrag in the cupboard beneath the sink. Celeste tried the faucet, but nothing came out. She tried to think if she saw a water pump anywhere nearby, when she remembered the ocean was just outside her door. She took the bucket, filled it with water from the sea, then dumped in the ABRAXO. The water fizzed slightly and let off a powerful floral, but medicinal, scent. Celeste clumsily plunked the bucket onto the counter, slopping water onto the surface. She rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

Lorelei Jones - Drumlin Diner

“I don’t have strawberries, hard to get out here. But I do have plenty of Mutfruits, I can make a shake out of that for 20 caps.” Ace said as he walked over to the fridge and grabbed milk and the fruit. He heard her say 15, he rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders in agreement. “So…Barney, I take it I’m going to have to add this particular mutant to the targeting computer as a friendly? Won’t be easy considering almost all those freaks look similar,” Ace said as he started to prepare the ingredients. He walked over to the blender and put in some milk, chopped mutfruit, and a little ice into the blender.

Lorelei fumbled around in her pocket, looking for her caps. She scrounged fifteen together and lazily shoved the pile across the counter. “A mutfruit shake?” She looked upward, an exaggerated expression of her thought process. “Sign me up. I've had almost every variant of milkshake known to the world. Except this one, apparently.” She watched as Ace began to stir her drink and leaned onto her elbows. “Perhaps we should get Rook something charming to wear. Like a flower-crown. I wouldn’t shoot a mutant with a flower-crown. Would you?”

Ace grabbed a clean cup and poured the contents of the blender into it, with plenty left for another 2 shakes. He handed her the drink, and went back to stirring the stew. As he stirred he heard Tom approach the woman, he leaned on the counter and tipped his hat at her, “Well hello, young lady. Name is Thomas Beauregard Sykes the III, entrepreneur extraordinary, purveyor of wares far and wide. What might your lovely name be?”

“Tom, hmm? I used to travel with a man named Tom. He was more rugged and charming, though,” she said, with a shit-eating grin on her face that had a satirical quality to it. She kept her eyes fixed on Ace’s work. “My name is Lorelei. Lorelei Jones.” She stretched and let loose a sigh of relief. It was good to get a spot of fresh air. “I can’t say that there’s any facet of my life that I can affix ‘extraordinaire’ to. You’ll just have to settle for junk-hoarder or sharpshooter.”

FRIEDA RICHTER -- Salem and so on

The call to a cigarette was strong. So strong, she found herself distracted enough that it took not one, not two, but four glances south towards the beach for her to see the image of Rook moving back and forth, hauling all manner of large junk around.

Aha! she thought to herself, triumphantly. Now we'll see what you're really up to. The cigarette temporarily forgotten, Frieda inched her way down the alley and towards one of the buildings. An intact fire escape caught her eye, snaking its way up to the flat roof of what seemed to be some mixed-use building before the war. She climbed the steel stairs, greatly aware of how loud her feet sounded on them in her boots, and hoped the mutant was too busy hauling junk to notice. Frieda crossed the roof and found a dried out skeleton sitting in a patio chair with a teddy bear in its lap and a children's story book in its hand. She wasn't sure if she should feel sick, or confused.

Movement on the beach below recalled her attention and she hunkered down next to the edge of the roof to watch.

She became so bored, she wondered that the old man had been right to just leave the greenskin alone. He paced back and forth, hauling huge steel containers, for what seemed to be to build some kind of wall. Frieda had taken to picking at her nails when she heard an unfamiliar voice speaking to the mutant and snapped her attention back to the beach. Sure enough, a young looking woman with dark hair was chatting and smiling with the mutant, going so far as to offer to 'help.'

I'll never get used to these idiotic tribals. She watched in revulsion as the woman spent several minutes with the mutant. Frieda wasn't close enough to pick up each and every word of the conversation. Something about walls? Her eyes went between Rook and the containers, and something clicked.

"Well, I'll be damned," she breathed. The greenskin sure seemed to be trying to build fortifications around the town. But,
is he trying to keep other bad guys out, or keep the rest of us locked in? It seemed too good to be true.

Flashbacks of super mutants clad in their ugly armour, shouting and shooting at her Vertibirds over the years were enough to doubt very much that there existed one who actually didn't have nefarious intentions.

"I'm still going to keep an eye on you," she muttered. Frieda idly scratched at the aged concrete in front of her, wondering what her best course of action would be. The extent of her field expertise was limited to the basic "how not to die in the wasteland" kind of stuff they raise everyone on, and her heart sank at the thought that Brian would know the answer. He always knew the answer.

Rook had picked up his white flag once more and walking past the building she had perched herself onto, seemingly headed towards the diner. She ducked as low as possible, watching him pass. Once he was well on his way, passing the church, she rose and descended the fire escape to follow him. Frieda hit the ground heavily, her bag bumping against her body as she landed. I really need a better place to stash this stuff. She continued to tail Rook as he walked down the street, in the direction of the diner.

Ace Makovich – Diner

The radstag stew was nearly ready. Ace chopped up some additional carrots and threw them into the pot. As he allowed it to simmer, he checked the oven for the mutfruit pies he was baking. He turned to look at the crowd forming in the diner, it was clear to him he would most likely need to hire a helping hand, if more people arrived to town.

He opened the cellar door that was located behind the counter and headed downstairs. He grabbed one of the skinned mole rats to back upstairs. He also grabbed a couple bottles of whiskey and headed back upstairs. He placed the Molerat in the meat freezer, when he saw Shelby and Waylon walk into the diner. He put the whiskey down, grabbed two clean cups and filled them with purified water.

“What’s up Ace? Heard you actually got something a little different on the menu?” Shelby quietly slid by and plopped down into a corner booth, she traced figured eights on the cleaned up tabletop.

He walked over to the booth and placed the water in front of them, “Well I see you’re back from your trip Shelby, I don’t see Brandy with you, what’d you do kill her and dump her body on the way?”

Ace laughed and headed back to the kitchen area, grabbed two bowls and spoons. He filled the bowls and walked back over to Shelby and Waylon, and placed the bowls down, “Here ya go, some radstag stew, pretty good if I say so myself. Have other stuff, but I recommend this, maybe I’ll even let you have some pie, if you behave” Ace smirked as he said that.

The music on the jukebox Cut-off, and Travis came on the radio, “Ladies and gentlemen, Diamond City Radio has some breaking news for you... hold on to your hats... We are receiving various reports of a large scale battle taking place near the Mass Bay Medical Center. Long suspected to be a Gunner’s stronghold, the Minutemen have launched an incursion to take the building. Per our reports, large explosions have been seen and heard in the area along with the continuous sound of gunfire. If taken this ought to further secure the main old highway and provide a safe direct route to Goodneighbor from The Castle, thus further securing the Boston area for safe travel. Diamond City Radio promises to bring you any updates on this story as soon as we can. Keep it tuned here, folks, to Diamond City Radio.”

The radio returned to playing music. Ace smiled, “Well seems like the Minutemen are keeping themselves busy.”

Tom turned to Lorelei and sat down next to her once the radio had finished, “Well, this other Tom fella sounds like quite a specimen. We Toms do tend to be charming and rugged.” He spun around and turned to Ace, “How bout two fingers of whiskey for a weary traveler?”

“If anyone was weary, it’d be that overworked Brahmin of yours, having to put up with you all day long.” Ace said as he made his way behind the counter and poured Tom a drink.