Nekoholic

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

Basil stared at Kaye for a long moment, expressionless, and finally said flatly, "It was unsatisfactory, I'm afraid."

Leith nearly choked on his Nuka-Cola, coughing as he attempted and failed to recollect himself.

Becoming more serious, Basil added, "Jace and I had a disagreement, and he has to reconsider his own options and goals. I don't know if he will be joining us, but I doubt that he will, considering that we will have to be leaving soon." He tapped his fingertips against the table, lips pursed; as business-like as he tried to be, he really did hope that Jace would have second thoughts and come in. Even though they certainly weren't on the best of terms at the moment, what with Jace actually going as far as to aim a gun at his head, Jace had always been something stable in his life. He was always there, willing to help and support. The thought of suddenly losing him like this, potentially never seeing him again, almost made him stand and leave himself to search for him, wherever he might be at this point.

If Jace had made his choice, though, he wouldn't stop him; he understood why Jace might no longer want to walk and fight alongside him. He was merely a replacement, and one that Jace had never asked for.

"I'm sure that he'll eventually show up," Leith finally said, watching the remaining contents of his Nuka-Cola swirl around in the bottle as he absently twiddled with it. Really, he didn't know; he'd only known the two for a couple days, and from what he'd been able to gather, the two had a rather unhealthy relationship that bordered on co-dependency. He didn't want to encourage it, but, well, sometimes one just had to take people where they could find them, even if they weren't the best for each other. Still, perhaps it'd be better for the both of them if they had some time apart, but who was to say that they'd ever be able to find each other again at some point if they just up and left without arranging anything? They couldn't just hope to stumble upon each other somewhere random in the wasteland, after all.

"Oh my God, we forgot the kid!" Leith suddenly borderline shouted, standing as he slammed his palms onto the table.

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

Kate smiled softly in return, and said reassuringly, "It's just a supply run. We'll be back before you know it." Hesitating briefly, she finally turned away and followed after Salem, who already had his plasma rifle in his grip.


The Rust Bucket served the town well as both a hotel, bar, and eatery, even if it was rundown with frequent leaks and a single waitress who was certainly in over her head about actually keeping this place clean. At the counter in one corner of the room, people had the option of purchasing a night in one of the rooms upstairs or being served their choice of poison, while at the tables, the waitress would come and serve actual food with the choice of either water or a soda. Leith, though he preferred to know exactly where his food came from and how it was prepared, had to admit that the food here wasn't too bad, even if his squirrel bits were a bit too charred.

"Lover boy not going to show or something?" Leith inquired, finishing off his last bite of breakfast. He looked over at Basil, who sat on the opposite side of the table. Strangely, the kid hadn't even bothered to order anything, but he decided against questioning it this time; he was already taking risks asking the first question when Basil clearly wasn't in all that great of a mood.

"I'm not sure," Basil quietly said, not meeting Leith's eyes. Then again, that wasn't too strange for people; they often looked somewhere between his nose or at his forehead, since his eyes were, well, not too pretty, to say the least.

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

As Kate dug through Tink's bag for the necessary tools, she said, "I will need to go as to ensure that acceptable parts are collected, of course, but I'm not going out there without any escort--only God knows what I might stumble upon out there. So, who will it be?" She looked up at Salem and Juliano, further inquiring with a self-satisfied smirk, "The idiot or the idiot?" She then passed the kit over to Tink, waiting for the two men to discuss the pros and cons of being alone with Kate for an indeterminable amount of time.

However, before either of Salem or Juliano could speak, Paladin Desmond announced, "I will go with you, Kate. This is a repair for myself, after all, so--"

"Is it truly wise for the Paladin to leave, though?" Kate asked. She shook her head, glancing up at him not with disrespect, but concern, even though she was, as usual, questioning his command. "We're just now setting up this post, so perhaps you should stay here, just in case something were to go down here."

"That's true," Salem agreed, nodding.

Desmond considered it, but otherwise remained silent.

"Hey, boss, don't worry about us, okay?" Salem said, smiling. He gestured towards himself and everyone else in the room. "We're trained for this sort of thing. Kate and Tink are trained in the smart people stuff, Juliano and I are trained to make sure that they're safe enough to do their work. And you, you were great at being a knight, so you got promoted to boss us around. So, basically, it's our responsibility to do things for you. Go for the high road for once, Des."

"You are not my servants, and it is my duty to issue orders that are beneficial both to the mission and you as people," Desmond protested, but he did see Kate's point. He had to remain here, begin to set up and collect information, scout the immediate area. He finally sighed, relenting, "Be certain to return before sundown, with or without the supplies. The armor can wait, and I can most certainly live without it."

"So, I assume that I'm going with you?" Kate inquired, cocking an eyebrow at Salem.

"Looks like it," Salem said, kicking one foot against the wall, "Getting pretty restless, so it's no problem to me. Plus, I have to admit that I'm curious about what may or may not be out here."

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

Desmond rubbed the back of his head as he thought, and finally answered, "It's...been a while, I'll admit. A more specific answer would likely only frustrate you more." He sighed.
"Don't worry, Dezzy, Tink can save anything," Salem comforted, patting Desmond on his back with an encouraging smile, "She'll have it working again in no time, I'm sure."
"Glad to know that we have a motivational coach here with us," Kate muttered under her breath, but Salem didn't seem to catch wind of her words.

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

"Just leave that sort of work to us, Juliano," Kate said, glaring at him, "Could have probably gotten it to work if you hadn't been bothering us."
"Great, you're all back," Salem said, smiling, dissolving their "argument," "How about some help? Dezzy broke his Power Armor, and it's hard to get it back to working order without our all-knowing scribes helping us out."
Desmond snapped, "I didn't break it! It's probably just jammed somewhere..." He flushed, averting his eyes from the rest in the group, embarrassed by his outburst.

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

"This is up to you as much as it is me," Kate replied, folding her arms over her chest. She shook her head again, making to move past Juliano. "However, we have other matters to worry about, as well. Juliano, keep this between us until we come to a decision, okay? Until then, let's...focus on our other duties. There's a lot to be done within the next few days."

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

Kate shook her head in clear exasperation at the "hot" comment, but looked up nervously at Tink and said, "I suppose there isn't anything else that he can do, Tink." She hesitated, but then continued, "We should tell them, like he said. If even Juliano doesn't care, then I doubt that Salem or the Paladin would hold it against us, either. It's our best option. Better to come clean with them than have someone use this against us in the future. Worst case scenario, they'll...reassign us. Away from each other. And as much as I'd hate that, it's better than them finding out some other way and exiling us."

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

Kate averted her gaze from Tink, and asked Juliano, "How can we believe you? We need more than your word here."

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

Kate looked between the two, and finally said urgently, "Tink, lower the gun, please. He's not our enemy." Well, she couldn't be certain of that, not yet, but she did know that he was technically their comrade. She then glared at Juliano. "Why were you following us? Have you never heard of privacy? Besides, I assumed that the Paladin would have you organizing there or playing sentry." She wondered if Salem was anywhere near, now that she thought about it; though he was considerably nicer than Juliano, the two seemed fairly close. Then again, Salem could get close to just about anyone, due to his philosophy that "everyone has their reasons for how they are." Apparently, that justified anything in his eyes; personally, Kate saw it more as a coping mechanism, one that may have developed due to how...poorly his combat training had gone, then the results of his early missions. She'd never pried too much, though.

Atomic Rain (Fallout)

"You're too mean to them," Kate chuckled, shaking her head, "But really, we should start heading back. Desmond will probably be needing our help with something or another."