I really wish I could pull off Piper's look in-game as well as her but the coat looks ridiculous on my character and the hat clips. Oh well...
Disclaimer still applies.
IN WHICH Piper becomes ill, leaving her unable to work. Renee decides to try being a reporter for the day.
Piper weakly took another swig from the bottle of Nuka-Cola she held. "I said I'm fine." She sniffed, pulling the blanket around her shoulders.
"You're not fine, damn it. Have you looked in a mirror lately? You look like a Ghoul." Renee planted her hands on her hips.
The reporter glared up at her.
"Okay, a Ghoul's cousin." Renee sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Listen, you need to rest. You're exhausted, you have a fever, and I'm not taking you anywhere until you've recovered."
"But the paper—" Piper began coughing into the blanket.
"The paper can wait." Renee took the half-empty bottle of Cola and gently pushed Piper back against the bed.
She shook her head. "And what about Nat? I can't just leave her to herself. Lord knows she'll get into the Sugar Bombs for dinner…"
"I'll handle it, don't worry."
Piper groaned as she settled against the mattress. "Fine, but wake me up if anything happens."
Renee padded down the steps to see Nat waiting for her. The teenager stepped forward. "Is she okay?"
"Piper'll be just fine. Don't you have school?" Renee tilted her head.
"I mean, yeah, but I was worried…" Nat kicked at the ground.
Renee smiled and steered her toward the door. "You'd better get going. Your sister is fine, I promise. I'll keep an eye on her."
"Okay… Just don't let her do any work or anything. When she gets sick she just works more and it's really—"
"Not healthy?"
"I was gonna say annoying." Nat pouted. "Just…take care of her? Please?"
Renee nodded and watched Nat dash off toward the schoolhouse. She stepped back inside the Publick Occurrences office, closing the door behind her. Her ears twitched to hear Piper coughing again upstairs. "Damn…"
Two days prior they'd gotten caught in the rain while exploring the northern part of Boston proper. When they returned to Diamond City, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then suddenly Piper collapsed making breakfast just that morning, causing Nat to go tearing through the marketplace for Renee's home. It didn't take the Vault-Dweller long to realize her companion had taken ill and, amid all the worry and panic in her head, she still managed to lecture the reporter on proper health management.
Codsworth would be proud.
Renee busied herself trying to clean up the apartment. Before the Great War she prided herself on her ability to keep her household relatively clean and put together. But now in a post-nuclear time, it seemed such skills weren't very practical. Even still she managed to make things look a little newer, more organized. They finally had clean dishes, at least.
"B-Blue?" Piper called from the loft.
"Coming." Renee climbed the stairs again. "That wasn't a very long nap."
"I'm hungry." The reporter rolled over onto her side to face her.
"I'll get you some noodles. Is that all right?"
Piper nodded, huddling down in the blanket. If it weren't for the sickly pale shade her skin had adopted and the bags under her eyes Renee felt she would look adorable. Though in her current state, the reporter instead just looked…pathetic, frankly.
"I'll be right back." Renee turned on her heel to head out for noodles. She pounded down the stairs and to the door just to open it and find it was raining again. "Oh, damn it all." In her haste to run toward the apartment that morning, she forgot her own coat. She noticed Piper's hat and coat hanging on a nail by the door. Surely Piper wouldn't mind her borrowing them. She shrugged on the trench coat and plopped the hat on her head before heading out.
Piper's coat was a touch big, as Renee was shorter than the reporter. She buttoned it up and popped the collar, not having a scarf to keep her warm. As she passed by the Mega Surgery Center, Dr. Sun called out to her. "Good morning, Miss Wright!"
Renee turned. "Mornin', Dr. Sun." She grinned at his confused expression. "Did you really think I was Piper?" She stepped into his stand to get out of the rain, taking the hat off and shaking it free of water.
"Well, at first glance, yes. You are wearing her clothing." He raised an eyebrow. "Why would that be?"
"Piper is…" Renee put the hat back on. "Piper's sick and I needed a coat. You wouldn't happen to have any cold medication, would you? Or is that something else the bombs destroyed…"
"Give me just a moment." Dr. Sun rummaged around in his supplies until he produced a pill bottle. "Here."
Renee dropped some caps into his other hand and took the bottle. "Thanks. I appreciate it."
"Tell Miss Wright I hope it helps." Dr. Sun pocketed the caps with a smile.
She gave him a salute and stepped back into the rain, jogging over to the Power Noodles joint. Takahashi stood behind the counter stirring his pot of noodles. She gave him a small wave. "Hey Takahashi."
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka?"
"Sure. One bowl, please." She held up her index finger.
Takahashi poured her a single bowl and stuck a set of chopsticks in it. She slid some caps on the counter in return. "Thanks, pal."
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka?"
Renee walked back to the Publick Occurrences office, holding the bowl of noodles under the coat to keep them warm. Once inside the small apartment she took off the hat and coat again, hanging them back on the nail. All was quiet, meaning Piper was most likely asleep again.
She made her way upstairs to see that, indeed, Piper had dozed off. Renee placed the noodles and the pill bottle on the small bedside table next to the Nuka-Cola. She happened to spy the reporter's open notebook laying there as well. She glanced at Piper and picked it up.
Possible story ideas:
Quality of schooling
McDonough?
Expose Geneva
Different Synth gens. (ask Nick)
The handwriting grew sloppier the further the list went on. Renee realized she must have been working on it before she fell asleep. She was about to lay it on Piper's desk when a thought struck her. What if she got a story? It wouldn't be terribly hard; sure, she couldn't really do anything about the schooling—things changed so much from her time—and McDonough was an ongoing project. Geneva was…difficult. But she could talk to Nick about the differences between the Synth generations.
But if she was going to be a reporter, she was going to be a reporter the right way, damn it.
Renee nabbed Piper's gloves off her desk and the green scarf she always wore off the back of the desk chair. She went downstairs again, notebook still in hand. Laying it on the kitchen table, she shoved her hands into the gloves and tied the scarf about her neck. "Pencils…?" She looked over her right wrist, where indeed Piper had sewn slots for pencils and pens onto the leather.
She shrugged and grabbed the coat again. It didn't fit any better than before, but she didn't mind. Tucking her auburn hair under the press cap, she took a moment to look in a mirror by the door. "Not bad, Jones, not bad…" She smirked. "Renee Jones, Publick Occurrences!"
Upstairs, Piper coughed.
Renee grabbed the notebook and headed out the door.
Reviews/comments are appreciated.
