I STILL FEEL ALIVE

Boone was better at keeping clean, largely because he remained at a distance. The last thing you never see held true, at least for many of the Legionnaires he’d put bullets through. 

He didn’t step much closer, for all that his rifle had lowered.

“Not as of yet.” A pause. “…Are you trying to make a point here?”

“ a point? y’mean this? ”

the string of ears was held aloft, the fresh additions offering a few drops of blood to the desert sands. slipping her rucksack from her shoulder, the rather disgusting ‘charm’ is tied around an old key ring and left to dangle on display.

“Fair enough.”

Boone went quiet for a few moments as if debating the merits of actually continuing a conversation. But he was sitting with nothing to do while she sewed up his shirt. “…We learned to get comfortable with eachother in the NCR. Didn’t have the luxury of privacy out in the field. You just had to… unlearn any of that.”

His expression was mild, and surprisingly Boone took his glasses off for a moment to wipe at his brow.

“I also learned to travel light. Really light. …Makes it easier to run if you have to.”

“ well, that’s a point i guess. at least you’re-- uh-- not as unfamiliar with it... i guess... ”

her comment trailed off as her focus turns to mending the shirt. for all the holes it bore, the fix itself took barely a few minutes. sheila held up the shirt before her, inspecting it for a moment before passing it back to boone ( while averting her gaze, of course ).

@wstelanders​ asked: "stu, look. i learned a new trick. the humans call it sit." j2, promptly, sits on his haunches like a very good boy. he also looks very proud to show his friend.

“Ah yes, the Colonel.”

THE FAMILIARITY is brief, but there when Preston is mentioned. They had their differences, AND NO one could argue that they had their fair share of disagreements, but being able to work with him was something Jamie prided himself on. Most people didn’t have as pure intentions as he did, and it garnered a great deal of respect from Jamie, especially given the fact that he did so in the face of all this pain & death.

“Well you traveled all this way, have seat and rest if you like. The Commonwealth is particularly kind to travelers on a good day so I would advise resting a bit before heading out again. I heard word from a patrol that there are a group of rather unpleasantly dictatorial super mutants moving in and it’d be prudent not to go anywhere until they’re dealt with.”

“ oh-- much obliged! ”  she’s grateful to have a seat after the long trek, stepping over to a dilapidated old chair beside the fellow. she sits with a groan, kicking her feet out before her as she settles. she spends so much time on the road, it’s nice to put her feet up for a change. 

“ here, pumpkin, ”

the voice is downright scary. deep and gravelly, warped, like most super mutants. but despite the deep tone, there’s a sweetness in the words. large hands extend a gift towards the sniper; a handmade sweater, deep red in colour. 

          ❝ ‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ Where’s  th’  faith ?   Trust me ;   you want in,  I know how to get you in.  They won’t suspect a thing. ❞

a pause... followed by a long sigh. sometimes she wonders how she got herself into this position. 

“ well, that was fuckin’ tedious. ”

she was almost covered head to toe in gore, at least four severed legion ears grasped in her hands as she strings them up on a long strip of twine ( several other ears in various states of decay already on the string ). 

The synth hadn’t seen her around directly; he’d heard of her, more her profession. Sheila didn’t leave an impression of anyone that needed to be on Valentine’s radar. That was generally saved for informants, troublemakers, the connected and mysterious.

Still the eyebot was interesting. Nick raised an eyebrow, his frown flat. “Quite alright. Had an evil witch curse me and put me in a robot body a while back, though. Shows you not to piss off a dame with a broom.”

“It’s Nick, by the way.” 

“ oh! you’re the detective i keep hearing about! ”

her expression shifted from concern to delight as she steps around from behind the bench, a hand reaching out to him in greeting. the stories she’d heard made sense now; an old synth detective watching out for the commonwealth citizens. “ sheila o’kelly, lovely to meet you mister valentine! ”

She laughed. It didn’t exactly draw a smile, but there was the slightest movement in the creases in his cheeks and a sharper breath– as close as he was going to get to a laugh, probably.

“…We had to get real used to it real quick in the NCR. Being close with your squad.” Boone shrugged the coat back off, but at least kept it well folded over his chest as he sat down again. “Take it it was different for you.” 

“ you could say that, ” sheila laughs to herself at the comparison. “ my vault, we-- there wasn’t much influence from the outside world. any sort of, uhm, indecency was usually p-private. i wasn’t expecting you waste landers to be so open about things. ”

she was more relaxed once boone covered his chest, and she turned her attention to the shirt now in her possession. there was more holes than she initially thought, perhaps from bullets or general wear-and-tear. 

@mojavc​  / sc.

“Do the Minutemen suddenly employ Couriers now?”

THIS WAS certainly news to him, granted he wasn’t one to complain, BUT HE HAS to wonder how they’d navigate the COMMONWEALTH with everything that’s RUNNING AMOK. Especially given how dangerous the FENS were as well as how NOTORIOUSLY easy it was to get lost there. HE RISES from the chair was in, the SETTLER that notified him trotting back off to their business as he approaches.

“If you don’t mind too terribly, would you be so kind as to inform me about who sent this message exactly?”

“ oh-- no sir! self employed, sole owner of lucky star courier services! ” sheila’s all smiles as she promotes her business, as proud as punch to have something to call her own. even as she closes the distance, her pleased grin is fully visible. 

“We’re in the middle of a desert.” Boone’s voice was… surprisingly mild, a hint of a half-smile crossing his face. If one didn’t know better, they might have seen him as… teasing.

“Alright, Sheila. I’ll bite.” He shrugged on the coat… and it didn’t really fit him. At all. His arms were sort of suspended up, and his chest was still very much exposed.

“ oh shush-- ”

she waits a moment, waiting for him to at least cover himself. with the coast supposably clear, she turns to look back at boone... only to snort, despite the red in her cheeks. 

Boone had peeled his shirt off before she threw her coat at him. It hit him square in the chest, and he had to pause as he gathered it up and sent her a skeptical look.

Slightly amused. His brow furrowed behind his glasses. “…Are you serious?”

“We fought a Deathclaw the other day, and you can’t handle a guy with his shirt off. …Incredible.” 

“ yes-- i’m serious! ”

growing up in such a secluded vault, sheila was somewhat... unaccustomed to any state of undress. it made traveling past the gomorrah casino an absolute nightmare.

@mojavc​.

Nick wasn’t entirely used to going to another office rather than interlopers stepping through his door. Especially not lately. He’d taken an unfortunate spill a few days prior, and repairs on his leg were taking… a while. It sapped his motivation to get up and about every time he had to bargain for parts to make his knee work again. 

So he was hobbling when he sidled through her door; a courier, which was unfortunately what he needed, because at the moment he couldn’t do it his damn self. At least it was a dignified limp, if that was possible.

“Knock knock. This the courier’s office…?” 

a long, beeping whine leaves ed-e as the courier attends some repairs, screwdriver tightening a few final screws. it was almost as though the eye bot was attempting to wriggle out of sheila’s grip, trying to get back to floating about the small office.  “ dangit, ed-e, hold still for two seconds! ”

an old bell jingles just as sheila finishes her work, ed-e quickly scooting away and into the back room, safe from her grasp.  “ ah-- you’re in the right place! what can i do for you-- ” words fall short as she examined the visitor, eyes growing wide in surprise for a moment. 

Boone didn’t really spare much grief for his childhood, spent handling weapons instead of learning how to make friends. It was a waste of his energy, and he tried not to look too deeply into the sadness of that reality. 

He was already shrugging off his rifle and ammo belt so he could peel the shirt off, but paused as it was halfway up his stomach. “…Yes?”

“I don’t have any other shirts here.” 

“ -- oh! ”

eyes were quickly averted away from the sight of boone’s belly, and sheila shifted on her seat to angle away from him. if boone was fast enough, he’d likely catch a glimpse of the steady shade of pink her cheeks were turning.  amidst some nervous babbling, sheila threw her followers coat at the sniper.