Ok,well remember when I said that the chapters would get better and better? I hate this one. :|
lol! But who knows, maybe a few people will like it!
Anyways, here's the next chapter!
The rest of the journey to their hometown was pretty quiet, besides the sweet sounds of Radio New Vegas playing on Natalya's Pip-Boy. There were a few mole rats, but they didn't even seem to notice the group.
"What the hell? These things are usually always bothering me," Natalya commented about the little pests. "They are so cute! Especially the pups," Arianna said as she looked at some on a ledge above them. Natalya scoffed at her sister, "Whatever you say." They continued to follow the highway, passing traveling merchants and Legion recruits as the sun began to set.
When they saw Ranger Station Charlie in the distance, Arianna let out a squeal, "Almost home now!" The blonde began to walk faster down the hill towards the station.
"Hello there!" A voice greeted the group. They all turned around to see an older man who was dressed like a caravan trader following them. "It's nice to see some friendly faces. Name's Malcolm. Malcolm Holmes."
"Hello, nice to meet you, too," Arianna greeted the man. Natalya nodded at him. ED-E beeped as a greeting.
"I don't suppose you ladies have anything to trade? I'm missing a few essential and-oh, screw this," The man shook his head, "Lying just ain't in my nature. I'll tell it to you straight; I've been following y'all for a good bit now."
"What? Why the hell have you been following us?" Natalya asked the man, a bit annoyed.
"Now, now, it started off innocently enough. I was traveling and happened to observe you," he pointed to Arianna, "Wearing a necklace of those blue star caps." Natalya looked at her sister and glared. "What? That guy killed that woman over these things. I just figured they were expensive or something," the blonde shrugged as she pulled the necklace out from where she had it tucked under her shirt.
The man eyed the necklace and nodded, "Yep, those little gems. Neither of you women know what you got your hands on, do you?" Natalya looked at the caps around her sister's neck, then back to the man, "So you couldn't have told us when you saw her grab the necklace? You follow us for a few miles and then decide to tell us?"
"Hey, hey, I just had to check your disposition! There are a lot of jumpy people out here that will shoot a man as soon as you start talking to them," the man looked at Natalya. He was clearly talking about when she shot the Powder Ganger.
"Anyways, now that we're conversing, I can tell you everything I know about those caps…"
Stranger continued to head through the hills, until he started running out of hills to travel on, near a Ranger Station. He looked toward the group to see that the man that had been following them had finally approached them. He still didn't seem to be a threat, and even looked to be having a pleasant conversation with the girls.
When Stranger noticed the blonde pull out a necklace with some blue star caps, he realized what the man was talking to them about; the legend of the star bottle caps. It was a tale that his father had told him when he was younger. Since that day, he had always kept an eye out for the special caps, but certainly didn't go out of his way for them.
As the man explained the story to the group, Stranger decided to run back a ways, and take the long way around to Novac, to avoid being seen.
"Thank you for the information, sir," Natalya began as she glanced up at the sky. The sun was almost gone and the Mojave got awfully violent at night. She looked at her sister, "We really need to get going now."
"No problem, ladies. But if you do end up trying to collect more stars, watch out for a man named Allen Marks. He's killed his fair share of people for their stars caps," the man warned the women. He then smiled and waved, "Well goodbye ladies. Maybe I'll run into you all again someday." With that he turned and began up the hill.
As the group began walking towards Novac, Arianna found herself staring at the caps around her neck, "I really wonder what this treasure could be," she thought aloud. Natalya shrugged, obviously not too impressed with the caps or their story. "He said the treasure is from before the war. Just imagine the possibilities…"
Natalya was very tempted to cut her sister's daydreaming off, but instead she remained quiet. They were almost home now and she didn't want to start any fights.
After taking a detour to Novac, Stranger found himself face to face with the familiar giant dinosaur that was the landmark in Novac.
Luckily, to avoid being narrowed in on by the sniper hiding in the dinosaur's mouth, he had found a travelling merchant who was also on her way to Novac. She had run into a gang of Viper's and Stranger had showed up just in time to assist her. He quietly escorted her the rest of the way to Novac.
"Thank you for your help. I know most merchants have guards with them, but I just can't afford one right now. It's nice to see some people don't mind giving a friendly hand to others in need," the woman told Stranger as they stood near the Novac sign. He nodded in agreement.
"Here. This is all I can give you right now," she grabbed a bottle of whiskey and a bag of potato crisps out of her bag and handed it to him. He was going to refuse, but found himself to be quite thirsty and hungry. "Thank you," he told her as he took the items.
After they split ways, Stranger looked around the small town, wondering which house the sisters lived in. At the same time, he wondered where he was going to sleep, when the courier was going to leave, and how he was going to keep an eye on her. He sighed at his conundrum as he rubbed his temples.
Popping a cigarette into his mouth and lighting it, he decided to hide behind what appeared to be an old gas station. It looked to be a mechanic shop now. As he stepped closer, he saw a sign with the words "Vinny's Repair Shop" wrote on it.
Stepping to the backside of the building, he sat on the dusty ground and looked towards the sky. The stars were beginning to come out for the night. Opening his bottle of whiskey, Stranger motioned a 'cheers' with his bottle towards the sky and took a big swig of the poison.
As the sisters stepped into their house, the smell of home-cooked food hit them instantly. Mouths watering, they attempted to walk towards the kitchen, before they were cut off, "Excuse me!" Their mother's voice echoed through the house. The girls turned slowly around to see their mother, Joanie, standing in her bedroom doorway, hands on her hips. "Sit down. Now!" She pointed at the couch as she took Jace from Arianna.
The back door opened and their father, Vincent, walked in, "What the hell is all the noise-oh," he noticed his daughters sitting on the couch. "Well look what the mole rat dragged in!"
The sisters shrunk into the cushions of the couch. Forget Deathclaws, Cazadores, or any other frightening creature that wandered the Wastes; angry parents were by far the scariest creatures in the world.
It was quiet as the parents glared at their misfit daughters. "Hi guys. Miss me?" Natalya attempted to break the silence. Joanie snorted, "Oh the whole Mojave knows that my baby was shot in the head-"
"Well at least they know not to mess with her now," Vincent piped in. Joanie glared at her husband. The toddler in her arms began to start fussing, so she bounced him on her hip. "And you-" she pointed at Arianna, "What in the hell were you thinking, running around the Wastes with your baby?"
Natalya looked at her sister with a smug look on her face. Arianna rolled her eyes, "Sorry. I didn't want to leave him with you guys. I felt bad about it," she began to explain. Then something clicked and she glared at both of her parents, "And besides, if I told you I was going to go meet up with Nat, you guys wouldn't have let me anyways. You never let me go anywhere!"
"And we have our reasons. Now get cleaned up, girls; we're eating supper soon," Joanie waved her children off. Arianna jumped up in front of her sister and darted for the bathroom, slamming the door. "Whatever," Natalya shook her head as she made her way towards the bedroom that she and Arianna once shared, back when she still lived at this house.
She slowly opened the door and was instantly reminded of more innocent times from her childhood. Times when she thought Novac was a big city. Times when her parents were always there to protect her. Times when she couldn't even imagine the idea of getting shot in the head, with every intention of being murdered.
She sighed, laying on her bed and closing her eyes for a few minutes. She heard someone walk into the room, but kept her eyes closed. "It seems like such a long time ago, doesn't it?" Her mother's voiced asked, as if she could read her daughter's mind.
"Yeah," Natalya agreed as she opened her eyes and sat up. She saw that her mother was sitting on the bed across the room, Jace sleeping next to her. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning." Joanie nodded her head slowly as she looked out the window. "I figured as much. You have mine and your father's blood. Can't sit still for lo-"
"Not like that," Natalya shook her head, "I'm going after the guys that did this."
Her mother looked a bit shocked. After a moment of silence had passed, she spoke, "Oh. Do you even know where they're going? Or where they are?" Natalya remained quiet before she got an idea. She stood up quickly, "I'm going to the shop to ask Cliff if he's seen anyone in a checkered coat come through here."
"A checkered coat?" Joanie questioned as she stood up and began to follow her daughter to the front door. "Yea, a robot in Goodsprings told me that he had seen a guy in a checkered suit and some people that he thought looked like Great Khans do this to me."
After shutting the door, Joanie blinked a few times. "A robot…?"
Natalya made her way over to the Dino Bite Gift Shop where a man named Cliff worked as the store cashier. He recently also gained the title of hotel manager, since the last one was 'accidently' sniped.
Natalya claimed to know nothing of this incident, though.
Realizing that it was closing time soon, she ran the rest of the way, quickly opening the door. "Hello, welcome to-Oh!" Cliff began to greet the customer until he realized just who it was, "Well if it isn't our hometown hero! You're all over the news, little lady. But I'm sure you're already aware of that."
Natalya nodded to the man, "Oh I've heard. Mom let me know as soon as I walked in the door," she joked. Cliff laughed, "Well that's a mother's job. Anyways, I'm sure you came here for something, right?"
"Yes, actually, I'm wondering if you saw a man in a checkered coat stop by recently?" Natalya asked. Cliff sat in thought for a moment before answering, "You know, I believe I did. I could tell he wasn't from around here from the way he talked and acted. And the guys he was with seemed to get along with Manny. You might wanna ask him to see if he knows anything more because that's all I can tell you."
"Thank you, Cliff," Natalya remarked as she began to leave. "Oh, wait, do you have any ammo I can buy off of you?"
Arianna slammed the bathroom door behind her and leaned against it, closing her eyes. She slowly slid down the door until she was sitting on the ground.
She remained this way until she heard the front door shut. She slowly opened her eyes and stood up. Placing herself in front of the sink, she began to rinse her face off.
As she was drying her face off with a towel, she heard a knock at the bathroom door. "Yes?" She asked, annoyed. "It's me," he dad began, "Come for a walk with me." Opening the door, she saw her father looking down at her. She sighed and nodded, heading for the front door.
They walked in silence towards her father's repair shop. When they were standing under the canopy of the abandoned gas station, Vincent decided to speak to his youngest daughter, "Arianna," he began, sighing, "You have to understand where you're mother and I are coming from…"
After finishing his whiskey and potato crisps, Stranger had nodded off for a bit. When he heard some voices nearby, his eyes snapped open and he quickly looked around. Remembering where he was, he decided to get closer to the owners of the voices.
Sneaking around the side of the building and hiding behind a garbage can, he peeked to see the courier's blonde sister talking with an older man.
"…just afraid if you run off again, it's going to be just like the last time. Or worse."
The blonde shook her head, "That's still not a good reason to be so overprotective! You guys have no problem when Natalya leaves home."
"When Nat leaves home, it's because she's going somewhere to work," the man, Stranger assumed to be the sisters' father, seemed to wince at his own words. "Noble work, might I add."
Arianna let out an agitated sigh, "You and mom just don't know how to let things lie, do you? That's all in the past! Sorry for being young and adventurous."
"Arianna, there's a fine line between being adventurous and being a…well..." he was clearly struggling for the right word.
The blonde scowled at her father as she quickly turned, "I'm done talking." She began to walk in the direction that Stranger assumed was their house. He kept his eyes on the blonde so he could see which house she was going to.
After seeing her slam the door on a house, he realized that had to be it. He saw the man follow soon after.
Walking to the back of the building, Stranger noticed a robot cruising down the broken highway towards the middle of the town. He watched as the courier walked away from the dinosaur and approached the robot.
He tried to listen in on the conversation as much as possible, but the distance proved to be too great.
Settling back into his little makeshift sleeping area, Stranger sat on the ground, leaning against the building. It didn't take long for him to fall into a peaceful slumber.
So for once I don't have a huge list of stuff to explain! Feels weird leaving such small author's notes…
As always PM me with any questions, suggestions, or errors. Don't forget to review!