Jasper always seemed to pick up on the wavering of Dakota’s stoic demeanor, no matter how hard she tried to prevent him from doing so. Sometimes it was welcomed and she appreciated having a friend to lean on in her time of need. But today the blonde beauty’s stubbornness was clouding her judgement and she wasn’t as willing to accept any sort of comfort. For a moment she simply stared at his outstretched hand, her brow perked as she looked at him.”We don’t need a search party,” She hummed, her thick Boston accent rolling off her tongue and drenching her words. “There’s no point. He’s not here anymore, s’time to move on from Diamond City.”

There was a faint huff of annoyance as she spoke. There wasn’t anyone he’d met that was as stubborn as she was. Some days he thought it would drive him mad. But he refrained from letting it bother him too much. It wasn’t done intentionally, at least he thought it wasn’t. “Me an’ you ain’t exactly a search party,” he huffed out after a moment as his arms crossed back over his chest. “Is it really that bad of an idea to follow him? I’m sure someone knows which way he headed. Can’t be too hard.”

Scuffed soles of her combat boots drug through the dirt as Dakota wrapped her slender fingers around each arm, cradling them to her chest. She worried the raw piece of skin hanging loose from her lower lip and glanced over at Jasper from behind dirty strands of honey blonde hair. “M’sorry.” She muttered, sighing softly. “I thought I had a solid lead on Kellogg…turns out I didn’t.”

The moment he noticed her demeanor, his own changed; softening slightly as he took in her appearance. He pushed himself from the wall as he swiped his shaggy locks from his forehead. “C’mere,” he muttered, reaching a hand out to her. Not waiting for her to take it, he wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her close. “We’ll figure something out. Find the bastard and deal with him, yeah? We can go looking together. Hate the idea of you being out there alone looking for this riff raff.”