35 days after leaving the vault
Butch pulled the worn hat I stole from Burke over his eyes. I didn't tell him the things I had to do to get it though. Burke. Where the hell are you? My ripper and I wanted to thank you for sending those Talon Mercs after us.
We're probably in Yao Guai country. There were many of them lazing around over here. I reached a hand out to stroke a Yao Guai cub. Its mother nuzzled my hand. Dogmeat whined low in his throat, probably jealous. For some reason, I seemed to attract creatures more than I attracted humans. It wasn't so bad. These creatures could easily fuck me up if they wanted to. Butch kept his hands hidden in the pockets of his jacket, still refusing to touch the Wasteland creatures even though I told him they were safe.
I blamed it on the radscorpions that proceeded to chase after us as soon as we left Megaton. They were essentially roaches with more legs and a stinger. Butch ran away from it yelling 'Tunnel snakes for life!', even though he had the combat shotgun in his hands. I killed it, haphazardly and clumsily, like the way I was when killing these damned things. I would never admit it to Butch but these things disgust me. I stopped laughing only when Butch smacked me upside the head with the butt of his toothpick. The reason I found the situation hilarious was that he was always so willing to cause harm in the vault. Or break things. Other than me. Outside the vault, he seemed… not that willing to do so. I was still by far his most favourite breakable things.
He was still smouldering about it. I could tell from the way his lower lip jutted out and him sucking in the hollow of his cheeks. I nudged him. He glared at me and I couldn't help the grin that slipped onto my face. Whatever I did slowly eased him up and after a while, he grinned sheepishly.
"Kill the next one, alright?"
"I'll butcher it," he said gruffly. I believed him.