#yeah the whole poised and charming thing she has when meeting with politicians/leaders?

[red-rosa]

All right. So. The following has been bouncing around my head for days and is more of a practice in internal voice than anything. It’s not pretty like some of my others, not really edited much, and not even particularly good. In fact, I’m probably going to delete it later. But it wouldn’t leave me alone, it’s silly and somewhat entertaining, and sometimes I like to think I’m funny, so here it is. 

Mentions of Old World Blues and such so if anyone hasn’t gone through it, here’s your warning. 

Also @gutsngrace? It’s your fault this is seeing the light of day. Look what you have done. 

Two hours until sundown, until the great, slumbering creature that was the goldmine of the desert would wake for a night life that, though it was only a ghostly remnant of what was centuries ago, rivaled any “modern” entertainment around. Two hours that would burn by in sluggish seconds, occupied by simmering heat and sun radiating off cracked payment few seemed to be around for. All was quiet (As quiet as it could be with the now all too-familiar sound of gunshots and fights for survival in the surrounding sand dunes) and calm, the crackling speakers outside droning on once again with the same rotation of songs all knew by heart. However, every now and then a yawn would puncture the suffocating blanket everyone seemed covered by, or perhaps it was the light ding of a machine and muffled curse of some day drunk tourist in the background. Those starlets, those clambered for by the night crowds…they weren’t around yet. Still asleep, maybe, or just tucked away in rooms away in privacy and what peace someone could get in a world such as theirs. There was one noticeable absence; boss wasn’t around, and hadn’t been for days. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. She’d often up and disappear, the restlessness of muscles used to eating up miles of dust and adventure that sung in an (admittedly) practiced nervous system driving her away from the bright neon and sloshed merriment. But it wasn’t a concern. She’d come back. She always did.Not that it mattered all that much. Whether she was present or not had little impact on the day to day responsibilities of the city’s inhabitants. It was just business as usual, and one of waiting those long seconds, minutes, hours away. Until it wasn’t. 

CRACK.

Inside one of the casinos those behind the counter up front jumped to attention, startled out of their naps by what sounded at first like a gunshot. Before anyone could react beyond that, however, a blinding light seared across vision, everyone in the vicinity flinching away. What the hell? The screaming that followed, however, was anything but ordinary.

 ——

MUGS! GIMME GIMME GIMME-

Hang on. Who was shouting about mugs and why? Why was this important? Why was her head ringing? …. And why did her tailbone hurt like it’d been shattered and put back together (Something she was uncomfortably familiar with due to other unfortunate circumstances that seemed to follow her like bad habits)?

 It took a few seconds but soon enough the courier had realized that she was no longer standing in front of the too friendly auto-doc listening to a bewildering set of AI but instead was…back at the Tops? Wait, what? Since when had that…?

And who was saying her name?

“Boss? Damn it, Six, come on. You gotta hear me.”

Looking around with bleary eyes, it took Willow a moment to realize the hand on arm belonged to someone who might actually need some explanation as to why there was now a miniature securitron racing around his lobby screaming about porcelain. Oh, she hoped the robot didn’t reach for one. 

From what she could see from her now sitting position (Rather than the ragdoll sprawl she’d apparently been thrown into when she was…whatever from the Sink), the Chairmen were (understandably) jumpy and upset. She wouldn’t put it past one of them to put a bullet through the brain of wires and circuit boards just to make…him? It? Whatever. To make Muggy (Ha! Right! That was his name!) shut up. Which would be a shame, all things considered. She’d promised to help-

“Willow.“ 

Oh shit, she’d been drifting again, hadn’t she? Giving her head a shake and instantly regretting it (Okay, ow, brains were heavy and she’d forgotten that in their brief separation), she forced herself to look back at Swank whose own expression had shifted between alarm, annoyance, and concern in an extraordinarily short amount of time. Awww, was he actually worried about her?

"What is that?” Hmph. Apparently not. Just about the robot causing havoc among his family. Wasn’t that rude?

“It’s just a securitron.”

“I can see that." 

"He has problems.” “….I can see that too. What is it doing here?”

 Good question. When they (Strange asshole computer brain things that shouted too much and apparently couldn’t remember one damn name) had said she could leave, she hadn’t imagined she’d be ejected from the facility immediately. She still had things to do! She had to help round up the last of the renegade robots, for one. Not to mention there was still the other Sink AI she had to find, the materials to update the proton axe, the trauma suits….There had been much to be done, and she’d been thrown out like….well, just another lobotomite.

 "Well, you see…“ She paused again, trying to find the right answer that wouldn’t have her thrown out of another building in less than five minutes. "There was this…thing." 

She felt more than saw him pause in his inspection of the new scar on her head (Damn, for a guy that rolled his eyes every single time she "jokingly” called him her brother, he sure was acting like they were family now), the hand on her arm tightening. 

“A thing?”

“Yeah, a thing. It was projecting…” Gosh, why was it so hard to think? Maybe the surgery had gone wrong? “An eye. On this giant screen.”

 "….Are you high right now?“ Talk about insulting. She never took chems! It was a rule. Smoking and drinking, fine. She’d do that socially; it was part of the game, after all. She was in control of the Strip and thus had to…had to…

Shit, what did she have to do?

"I am no-”

“I had to administer Med-X after we angered the last robo-scorpion. I’m sorry. Was I not supposed to do that?”

“Holy..!” Both she and Swank jumped at the unexpected voice, though the courier did have to appreciate the fact he hadn’t abandoned her to this unknown entity. Or, at least, he hadn’t let go of her and run for the hills yet. That had to count for something, right?

“I thought I told you not to give me that stuff.” Oh God, was she whining? That sounded like whining. At least it explained why her head was feeling both heavy and stuffed. A sigh escaped her as she glared down at the too tight stealth suit that had, until the least inconvenient time, stayed silent.

 ….And now it wasn’t saying anything at all. Great. She hadn’t looked crazy enough before. Why not add to it? Risking another peek at the new head of the Family, she grimaced at his expression. Right now she was probably up there with No-Bark on the sanity scale, and he was probably regretting the moment she’d stepped onto the Strip. So much for a normal day.

“Okay look, I can explain….” She huffed, attempting to rise to her feet and cursing her inability to handle chems in any capacity. Well hell, if anyone found out about this particular weakness…

She’d deal with it another day. Maybe when standing didn’t require slinging an arm around the shoulders of another person and allowing them to take most of her weight.

“Okay.” One step, then another, then another, then an-

Wait. Yet another pause. Willow, being careful not to let the Pip-Boy on her wrist smack her poor (Friend? Employee?) ally upside the head at the abrupt halt, fought past the haze one last time in an attempt to handle at least some of the situation. She hadn’t come back alone…?

“GIVE ME THE MUG!”

 Right. Had to handle that. She glanced around, squinting until she found Muggy who’d been rounded up to a corner by a gaggle of people and one normal-sized securitron that, if she was seeing things correctly (which was questionable under current circumstances), appeared to be inching towards the door. “Hey! Leave Muggy alone, okay?" 

….She was getting really tired of these looks the Chairmen kept giving her. 

"Muggy, behave.”

"BUT-”

“No.” With another hard glare at the little robot (Or, at least, the best version she could give while trying not to go cross-eyed under the influence of Med-X), she sighed and turned back towards the stairs. Another climb. Wonderful.

“Make sure they get along until I can do …something about this.” This last was directed towards Swank who, much to her annoyance, seemed to have gotten over his worry enough to shoot her a smirk as he helped her up. Cocky son of a bitch. At least he wouldn’t drop her down the stairs. He’d want the explanation of this too much to risk further injury to her now. Some small comfort that was.

“Sure thing, boss.”

“And that someone makes sure nothing else appeared and caused problems.”

“Whatever you say." 

”…You’re never letting me live this down, are you?“ 

"Not a chance.”