"…icult. We gonna keep him on house arrest? In prison? How should we go about this if he can't leave but keeps his position?" Hancock said.
Dan felt woozy. He went from being drunk and exhausted to sober and awake, and then back to drunk and exhausted. He raised his hand to Hancock, indicating that he needed a moment. He rubbed his right temple and let out a small belch, covering his mouth with his left hand as he did so. Thankfully he was only awake for a couple of hours, and so he quickly recollected what the current situation was.
"Wait…" he said in a gravelly, tired voice, "What exactly is Preston's position?"
"Leader of the Minutemen." Preston quietly added in a voice racked with guilt and shame.
"All five of them?" Dan asked, tilting his head curiously in Preston's direction.
"It's, um, four, actually." Preston softly replied.
"Four? What hap… oh, right. Mama Murphy. Because of the, uh, drugs… and stuff." Dan mumbled, "No offense, Preston, but that doesn't seem like a difficult job." Dan turned back to Hancock, "We could always have someone serve as acting leader of the Minutemen for the time being. Preston will stay in Goodneighbor, either under house arrest or accompanied by guards or whatever works for you, and somebody can take over for him until we take care of Dicksmash."
"That's a lot easier. I can think we could manage…" Hancock stopped, as he was cut off by Preston.
"You promised that I would maintain my position!" Preston raised his voice and slammed his fist on the table in defiance.
"Preston, Preston! Dan backed away from the table and raised his hands, "You are not losing your position! We just need you out of sight as long as Dicksmash is at large. Once he's gone – not even the whole Brotherhood, just him – you will return to your position as leader of the Minutemen."
"We had a deal!" Preston snapped back.
"I've altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further." Dan replied in a dark tone as he pondered how awesome that must sound in a universe without The Empire Strikes Back. The line actually seemed to be enough to quiet Preston.
"So then who do we put in charge of the Minutemen?" Hancock inquired.
"I mean, I wouldn't be against filling in for Preston." Dan added.
"Look, kid," Hancock replied, "I like you. I knew you for five minutes and you tell me to break out the pure. You're my kinda guy. But I can't just put you in charge of the Minutemen. You don't have enough clout here yet. Hell, you never even met anyone in the Minutemen!"
"Well…" Dan paused and looked around. Piper suddenly caught his eye, her head tilted back and she gently snored in her chair. "What about Piper?"
"Huh? What? I'm here!" Piper shouted as she suddenly awoke. She flailed her arms upon awakening, losing balance and accidentally tumbling from her seat. She then fell back asleep, her face pressed on the floor and limbs spread out in all directions. Dan and Hancock both chortled after the display, and Preston remained silent while looking down in disgrace.
"You know what? I like it!" Hancock answered at last, "Kid's got spunk, and she's always been all about helping those types. You know, uh, what's the word… downtrodden! I'd congratulate her on the promotion, but I think it can wait until tomorrow. Alright, boys, I'll see you all at 2:00! Preston, you're gonna have to come back with me. And you, kid?"
By now Hancock was standing, and so Dan raised his head to meet his eyes: "What's up?"
"Piper's in room 208. Something tells me she'll need some help getting up there."
"Wait, does this hotel use American or European numbering?" Dan asked.
"What the fuck does that even mean?" Hancock asked back.
"Ugh, okay, what room numbers are on this floor?" Dan asked, pointing to the ground.
"There's none. There's only rooms on the second floor." Hancock replied.
"Oh, uh… okay then." Dan sheepishly replied, "I'll get on that then."
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, kid." Hancock added as he made his way out with Preston. Dan couldn't help but think about how terrible that advice is coming from Hancock.
"Uh, where do I sleep, exactly?" Dan asked, yawning shortly thereafter.
"Hm…" Hancock answered, turning back around, "Ain't any free rooms in the hotel… meh, we can figure it out tomorrow. You can crash on her floor tonight."
Well, that's incredibly contrived.
The left side of Dan's vision suddenly filled with a green animation of the Vault Boy giving the middle finger to a man in a suit of T-60 power armor, who then stormed away in fury. Underneath, there was text that read "Vive la Résistance! Successfully joined the ranks of the Resistance in Goodneighbor." He then saw his XP bay go up by 212, giving him enough to reach level two. He quickly opened his perk-tree in order to gain the "Idiot Savant" perk, and then walked over to Piper. Considering his low strength, he wasn't entirely confident he could carry her. He got to his knees and gently shook her by the shoulder.
"Hey, Piper? Piper?" She half-opened her eyes and groaned. Dan has been in situations similar to this on several occasions, and he was all too familiar with how to handle them. He wrapped her right arm around his shoulder, and put his left arm around her waist. He slowly lifted her to her feet, and made his way to the stairs. Carrying Piper was surprisingly easy, much easier than it would have been in the real world. She occasionally took a few steps to make things easier, but largely just dragged her feet along the way. Once on the second floor, Dan headed down a hallway and checked each door his passed.
"202… 204… 206… okay, here we are." Dan said, extending his right hand to open the door. He jiggled the brass nob, but to no avail. Soon, text appeared in front of him:
"Unlock [Novice]"
"Uh, Piper? Any chance you have the key to your room?"
Piper groaned again, sounding almost annoyed. She fiddled through her left coat pocket, and then haphazardly dropped a handful of lockpicks on the floor.
"Oh gee, thanks." Dan sarcastically remarked. He picked up the lockpicks – totaling five – and then gently laid Piper back on the floor. He went to pick the lock, and time froze completely around him as a close-up image of the lock filled his vision. After a little fiddling and one broken pick, Dan had successfully opened the door.
"Mmm…" Piper sensually sighed. Taken aback by the sound, Dan's head snapped to look at Piper who was lying on her side and biting her lower lip.
[Piper Liked That]
"Are you… pff, haha! Really?" Dan asked, unable to resist giggling at what had just happened.
Dan twisted the knob and opened the door. He picked Piper back up, and made his way into the room. It was dimly lit by an old bulb hanging from the ceiling, and Dan saw a queen size bed as well as a dirty couch against the wall opposite him. That would definitely do better than the floor.
Dan laid Piper on top of the bed, who by this point was already fast asleep. He made his way to the couch, and when he looked down at it more text appeared:
"Couch [Sleep]"
He laid down on the couch, and new text appeared:
"Sleep _ Hours [1:01 AM]"
"Eight." Dan mumbled. The blank spot was replaced with an eight, and rather than rest, he saw the eight slowly go down to seven, then six, and so on. As it approached morning, a little more light shown through the window above him with each hour. When the timer hit 9:01 AM, the sleep related text vanished, and was replaced with the all too familiar notification:
[Autosaving…]
Dan awoke to a vision of the Vault Boy arising from a bed in his pajamas, clearly well-rested, and was notified that he now had the well-rested bonus. He stretched his arms and yawned, actually feeling like he had just gotten a full night's sleep. Unfortunately, the dull headache and dry mouth reminded him of what had happened the night before. He turned towards the queen bed, and saw it was empty. He spent a moment wondering what happened to Piper, but the nearby sound of retching answered his question.
As Dan headed towards the bathroom, he saw two inhalers by the front door, sitting on top of a note. He grabbed the inhalers and read the note:
"Something tells me you two will need these – J. Hancock"
"Aw, how sweet." Dan thought. He tried to bring one inhaler to his mouth, but had some trouble. He noticed his hands were violently trembling. He had forgotten that, technically, he did become an addict last night. He took a deep breath and compose himself, and then put the mouth of the inhaler between his lips. Assuming this worked like a normal inhaler, he took a long, deep inhale, and then held his breath for ten seconds. As soon as the ten seconds were up, all of the symptoms were gone: the headache, the cotton-mouth, the trembling – he felt completely revitalized.
His head now clear, Dan briskly walked to the bathroom, and he could hear that Piper's heaving had not slowed. The door was only slightly ajar, so he felt he should still knock before barging in.
"Piper?" he softly asked, continuing to knock, "Piper, I've got something for you."
Piper responded with the continued sound of vomiting. Dan interpreted this as meaning "Yeah, sure, come right on in. Make yourself at home!" So, at Piper's behest, he entered the restroom.
"Piper, I've got some addictol." Dan explained, kneeling beside her, "Do you think you would be able to, uh… stop… puking long enough to take it?"
Piper again retched into the toilet. Dan could tell by the lack of splashing that the contents of her stomach had been completely evacuated. By this point she was just dry heaving. She took a few deep breaths – her head still just above the toilet bowl – and spoke.
"Y – Yeah, just do it quickly, I think…" she stopped as another involuntary spasm of heaving overcame her. She spent a few seconds gagging before she was able to breathe again. Not wanting to waste time, Dan thrust the inhaler in front of Piper's face, and she slowly put it between her lips.
"Breathe." Dan instructed. As Piper began to inhale, Dan pressed down on the inhaler and heard this hiss of addictol being released into her lungs. He removed the inhaler and continued to instruct Piper:
"Hold your breath for ten seconds." He wasn't entirely sure if this was necessary, but didn't want to take the chance. She listened, and after the time had passed let out a long breath. She flushed the toilet, and then leaned back against the bathroom wall.
"Th – Thanks." she paused again, breathing heavily, "I feel… a lot better." Piper turned and smiled at Dan, showing her appreciation. This would've been cute had it not been for the bits of upchucked foodstuff still in her teeth. Dan resisted the urge to grimace and smiled back.
"So, I figured I should probably congratulate you." Dan said. Piper squinted at Dan inquisitively, and he continued to explain, "You, uh, kind of got promoted last night. With Preston compromised, you were kind of made leader of the Minutemen."
