#redberetbear

“What’s brought this on?” It seemed so sudden and….out of nowhere really. He hadn’t expected Manny to say that anyways. “I mean….I’m not against the idea- I’ve missed having animals around but, it’s kind of a sudden thing to say.” There was an edge of amusement to his voice, and he smiled slightly.

Honestly if it was one thing that Boone should probably expect by now out of Manny was that he was going to say some probably very unexpected things. “Well I mean..” How the fuck was he supposed to start this? ‘Oh yes, getting a dog instead of us adopting a child seems the less traumatic step to go’ was probably not the best thing to plausibly say, all things considering. The man did have some tact!

“That makes sense..” Boone said softly, taking it all in. He’d never been taken by wanderlust really, he had no desire to see the world- but it made sense more wanderers did it because they had to rather than because they wanted to. “So you plan on continuing to wander?” As if it wasn’t obvious really.

     For the better of the worse of it all... it was what it was. Hal wasn’t lying to the other man when he had said it was the sort of life he hadn’t really been given the option to choose, at least not initially way back when... what felt like a long, long time ago.

“I….” He looked caught off guard by the question- by even the mere suggestion. “That’s….tough to say. If the time is right…..yeah…I think I could.” This was a hard question, one he was clearly unsure of the answer to- and not because of his feelings towards Manny. Could he ever get better enough to not be overwhelmed with fear at the thought of remarrying? He could hope so at least.

While it had been a vaguely dangerous question to tread upon Manny thought that Boone had healed enough through everything to perhaps give it some sort of answer. Maybe. Whether he was gonna like the answer or not was something absolutely up in the air - sometimes the sentient potato was that damn hard to judge.

Nothing could’ve quite prepared him for such frank honest however. The spotter allowed a grin to light up his face, moving to shoulder against his partner lightly if it were permitted, before he audibly laughed. “Gonna be right here if ya ever decide you’re ready.”

Novac?

Shiagi squinted her eyes at the lump of shapes on the horizon. That was the horizon, right? Yeah, that's what that was. The sun was setting, the dark silhouette of the small town only just visible over the orange-ish reds of the sky. Some caravan she had seen a while back told her this was the closest town before Vegas. After seeing what had become of Nipton... well, she was glad to see "normal" civilization to say the least. It took her only a short while longer to hot-foot it into town.

After a rather unpleasant reunion with Victor, whom- while thankful for- she wasn't too fond of, her attention was drawn to the ridiculous-looking dinosaur. It was definitely out of place against the rugged wastes in the background, but it also seemed somewhat... welcoming. She took a moment to ask Victor about it, before she forgot what she was doing.

"That there's the gift shop, pard'ner! It's als-" Which was all she needed to hear, tromping off towards it before the creepy robot could finish his sentence. Awkwardly, she pulled the door open to peek inside, cringing slightly at the creak it made. Nobody seemed to be in. Now frowning as she stepped in, she glances around. She certainly wasn't going to steal anything, that was for sure; those toy dinosaurs were mighty tempting, though. Then, she spotted another door. One atop some stairs; presumably to the mouth of the great metal beast. She could do with a view of the road ahead, she figured, so that was the direction she moved towards.

It hadn't been long since Uriel got shot in the head by the checkered man and it was taking him a while to adjust from lack of memory. Everything had an odd feel to it that he couldn't place. So he promptly decided to ignore it; focusing instead on the feel of the dusty wind, the lights in the distance and every step he took. It wasn't working so well with the barren surroundings, but when of all things, a dinosaur came into view it easily caught his imagination. Could he climb it? Could he look out it's mouth? Could he sleep in it? Or on top of it? Maybe that was a bit too far, but it was better than being depressed, or thinking about that fucker Benny.

Staring at the bottom of your glass Hoping one day you'll make a dream last But dreams come slow and they go so fast

Fingertips brushed along the condensation that lingered along the outside of the glass of whiskey in Manny's grasp, smearing it across the surface as he remained settled in a chair within his room at the Dino Dee-lite Motel. It was quiet, that eerie lingering quiet he'd honestly grown to loathe in recent weeks - it was heavy, too poignant, and made him think of things he'd rather not choose to think about.

It made him remember and he loathed that too.

An audible snort sounded as he lifted the glass again to his lips, draining half of it without a care before shuddering visibly. Hell, he knew he wasn't having a good night when he even wished his unwanted roommate, Chris Haversam, to be around if only for the chatter he'd provided. But no - the mechanic was off chasing one of the new prospectors in town.. and he supposed he couldn't begrudge the man a way to idle away the time that slowly passed in Novac.

Refilling his glass and tucking the bottle away to avoid drinking heavier than he intended he rolled his weight upwards to his feet, heading towards his own door just to step out into the cooler Mojave night air. Here, outside, that insufferable silence wasn't filled and flickered with those flitting thoughts... instead he could hear voices, chatter, even some of the wildlife that made this part of the desert home.

Even as the glass returned to his lips his gaze wandered upwards towards the impromptu sniper's nest, knowing that kid - the oldest son of one of the families that made this place home - he'd been teaching on and off was on duty. Boone's night shift.