Hugsy

“I really don’t mind at all.” He replies, his voice sincere. It’s been a while since he’s actually been given a task. It’s been nothing but wandering and digging for months now, it’s good for him to get some sense of direction.

“That drawing would be very helpful. I’m not too knowledgeable in… machinery and robotics and such.” He looks to Izzy for a moment before rummaging in his duffel bag, pulling out a well worn notebook and flipping to a blank page, holding it up to her.

“Y-you can put the information in here. It’s guaranteed not to be lost.”

Izzy hummed when he said her didn’t mind. Frowning softly “I still want to pay you. You may be my friend, but I value that skill and being able to get me the part.”

“I’ll see what I can do on my own, I’ll be sure you’re the first one I come to if I need any assistance in extracting that part.” He takes a moment to look closer at the details, thinking back to see if this is something he’s already seen. He did tend to stay away from robotics, not having many connections to sell them to. Until now of course.

“N-naw~ I’ve actually been doing pretty ok. I’ve been able to avoid any run in with raiders.” He’s quiet a moment before clearing his throat.

Izzy’s question brought Hugsy out from his thoughts, the word search struck a cord with him.

“I really don’t mind at all.” He replies, his voice sincere. It’s been a while since he’s actually been given a task. It’s been nothing but wandering and digging for months now, it’s good for him to get some sense of direction.

“That drawing would be very helpful. I’m not too knowledgeable in... machinery and robotics and such.” He looks to Izzy for a moment before rummaging in his duffel bag, pulling out a well worn notebook and flipping to a blank page, holding it up to her.

“N-naw~ I’ve actually been doing pretty ok. I’ve been able to avoid any run in with raiders.” He’s quiet a moment before clearing his throat.

Izzy’s question brought Hugsy out from his thoughts, the word search struck a cord with him.

“N-naw~ I’ve actually been doing pretty ok. I’ve been able to avoid any run in with raiders.” He’s quiet a moment before clearing his throat.

“Ya know, you don’t have to do that. I’m fine.” Cicero hesitantly insists watching the smaller man work away on a laceration he managed to have inflicted on himself. The blood loss wasn’t that bad, but when he went to care for it, Hugsy seemed to refuse the idea that he would care for it himself.

Hugsy gives a sheepish smile hidden by his mask followed by a soft chuckle.

“I like to say I have, but it’s hard to measure when either no one has anything interesting to take, they’re much too easy to snatch from, or they have scary enough guns that I dare not even try.” He gives his hands a small wring, looking down at them, then back at Cicero. Analyzing him for a moment, his eyes once again wandering to the bandage to, once again, make sure he made it secure enough.

“Perhaps you could give me some professional tips that may help me in my future endeavors?”

“Ahh.” Cicero smiles and nods knowingly, “I know what you mean. I used to steal food off of soldiers when I was a boy; the times I got caught…. I regretted for a long time. Scary men or scary guns are legitimate reasons to not try, but if you get caught; you learn.” He smiles and nods a bit, knowing what he said wasn’t exactly helpful. No one wanted to get hurt on purpose, even if for the sake of learning not to do the same thing again.

Poor boy, he was a rather meek fellow.

Looking up with a surprised expression, he laughs a bit, “Tips hu? Well, it’s been a very long time since I’ve had to pick any pockets. I know it sounds crazy, but what helped me was not thinking about it. Mmm…” Cicero scratched his chin, thinking about how to explain it.

“No no, don’t think that about yourself. It’s just hard to explain something that you already just... know. I understand what you are saying, and it makes a lot of sense.” Hugsy’s face turns into that of smile through his mask.