ask me to salute and all you'll be seein' is me middle finger!

“Got ya Cait!” Princess was holding her with one arm as she hung from the scaffolding above the street. Super Mutant’s were yelling, gunfire was flying over the two of them.

@uncagedfighter

A sip of water slipped past the blonde’s lips. While a bar wasn’t a place she’d wanna be caught dead in, this bar truly took the cake. It carried that lovely charm of being in the middle of nowhere and hell as well as being battered by a rad-storm. 

With a careless expression on her face, she continued to watch the wall where several bottles of varying volumes sat, taunting her with an escape via inebriation. 

          A rad storm was on the way, and, like any reasonable individual in the wastelands, Cait sought shelter. The most convenient and still open shelter happened to be a local bar amidst the middle of fucking nowhere. Not that she was picky; she was glad to be practically anywhere other than the Combat Zone.

          Plunking herself onto one of the seats, she ran a hand through her deep red hair, glancing around at the surrounding bar. Booze, of course, was handy, though there was also a woman she had coincidentally sat beside.

        Johanna kept her lips pursed a little longer than she would have liked in response to the peck placed upon them. After realizing that, she was quick to move her face back a bit, not wanting to show any more signs of weakness that she already had exposed. 

      “You’re all right too,” she smiled. It was rare that Johanna expressed her feelings, so this would have to do. But she knew Cait understood what she had meant. 

    I like you too. 

    Usually, it was Jo that came with the clever nicknames, but it seemed like Cait shared the same talent. Her smile could only grow at that. 

       If there was any vulnerability from Johanna’s side, Cait either hadn’t noticed, or didn’t mind. She was rather exposed, herself, anyhow, though it frankly felt nice to unwind a bit. Constantly keeping herself guarded & alone was difficult, and she rarely found herself getting along with others. 

       With the sort of interactions she’d had with Johanna, she wasn’t sure if this could be called getting along, she enjoyed it. It was refreshing, truthfully.

       Cait was rather pleased with Johanna’s response, and her apparent amusement toward Cait’s nicknaming abilities. 

            “I bet it’s the closest thing to sex they’ll ever experience unless they’re trying to repopulate this hell hole,” she chuckled in response, her eyes not leaving the other woman’s. The citizens’ lives were seemed to be filled with nothing but following schedules. If not working, then they were in the mess hall. If not in the mess hall or working, they were sleeping even before it was lights-out. That seemed to be no way to live, and for a moment, Johanna questioned if Thirteen was better than what she was trying to get away from. 

         Although damp with perspiration from both women, and with the little room they both had on the bed, it would take some time for Johanna to get up. 

          Johanna’s comment on repopulation got another laugh out of Cait. It was true -- Thirteen’s typical crowd did seem to be solely focused on the bare minimum, when it came to pretty much... everything. It wasn’t particularly pleasurable, but it seemed the price to pay for freedom -- temporarily, at least. “I can say the same for you, Seven,” she drawled in response, leaning in to give the other woman a quick kiss, “I like you. You’re a hell of a lot more lively than anyone here.” That alone said a lot, considering she typically didn’t like people.

    During times like these, Johanna would have been dressed and out the door. But for some reason, she stayed in the messed up bed that would probably go unnoticed until someone moved into here. For once, she had an escape that didn’t destroy her like the drugs did. Cait’s smile rubbed off on Johanna, and she leaned over to peck at the other woman’s lips. Maybe if she just laid her until the war was over, she would be okay. 

       The grin on Cait’s face didn’t leave for a moment. “That’s a compliment I’ll gladly accept.” Yeah, she definitely liked this one. It was difficult for Cait to like her guard down, but even so, staying here for a while seemed like the most blissful option. Looking into Johanna’s eyes for a moment, her gaze traveled to the rest of the bed, where she blew out a quiet laugh. 

     What they had just done was better than any time morphling flooded her blood stream. It took some time to catch her breath, her eyes stuck on the bland white ceiling. She was never good at the moments like this. Either she would get up and leave by this time, or the other person would do it. But right now, she couldn’t move. She listened to the girl intently, nodding. 

      Past intimate interactions with others had never went so well. They ended with regret, with shame -- but this? This had been nothing like those times, it was something entirely enjoyable, a feeling that Cait didn’t push away or ignore ... and it had been great. Propping herself up with her elbow, she closed her eyes, contented. The redhead gave a smile, genuine albeit rather hazy, and when she spoke, her voice was breathy but no less wholehearted. 

      ‘ Maybe we just hope nothing knocks you to the ground and mauls you half to death, ’ Peggy grimaces. Chances are, she’d just get herself killed in the process anyway. She’s not a woman who has much of a head for fighting, at least not when she’s stuck in the middle of it herself. She can get the Minutemen where they need to go, tell them good places to do their thing from but– the second she’s the one fighting, it all falls apart. 

She looks sorry for a few moments before she says any more. 

         Cait has no trouble at all making herself comfortable in the jacket. Finally, something warm. She’d never needed warmth in the Combat Zone, never needed comfort then, but somehow, this just feels much -- better. Opening up and being vulnerable around another soul was something she’d never done before in her life, had never felt safe enough to, do but -- the kindness she's receiving actually seems worth it. ‘Gives her a fuzzy feeling within her chest. The Irishwoman pauses, however, at Peggy’s inquiry. 

   It was a strange thing being admired, and from such a beautiful woman too. All it could do at this moment was spur her on. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, and she couldn’t help but press up against Cait. Her whole body was on fire, and it didn’t seem like it was going to extinguished any time soon. 

     A sharp exhale escaped Cait at the contact of the other woman’s teeth, as thought she’d been holding a breath she wasn’t even aware of. She chuckled lowly, willing; for once, perhaps even for the first time, she finally had a say in intimacy, the option to do something both parties wanted. “The feeling’s mutual.”

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