Wakey-wakey, cute stuff! It's time to rise and shine! Weren't you supposed to be helping Moira, today? And let's not forget, you're meeting yours truly, too! Come on! Don't leave me hanging!
The new wastelander groaned and pulled the pillow over her head to ignore the bleeping Pip. It had been a month since she left the vault, or rather, was chased out. A month since she'd come to Megaton, disarmed the bomb and discovered she absolutely hated molerat meat. And she was exhausted. The bonus, though, is that she'd met Billy. She hadn't been used to people being kind to her other than Amata and Chloe. And then there's the mystery that was Alias. She still didn't know how she'd come to trust an unknown entity on the other side of her Pip. The girl sighed and got up, then pulled on her new vault suit and it's armor. She checked her new gun, a sniper rifle she'd found inside a rock, oddly enough. She had enough experience with the BB gun, to know how to handle a rifle. The kickback was harder to take but she was getting used to it.
She lifted her Pip and typed in a message.
Okay, okay, I'm up. Lemme get food before I do any of this stuff. typed the woman in response, sighing as she rose to get ready for the day.

Rosalinn left the house with a Nuka Cola in one hand and a brahmin sandwich in the other. The bread was crudely made by Jenny Stahl, so it was nothing like Old Lady Palmer's baking, but it was overall alright with some meat, butter and salt. As she walked the ramp to Moira's shop she felt someone touch her shoulder.
"Hey, good-lookin'! What're you up to today?" asked a plucky-as-always Billy Creel. Rosalinn smiled and ran a hand through her bangs.
"Helping Moira." She said softly. She still wasn't much one for talking.
Billy nodded.
"Heh, well I know she sends ya on some crazy adventures so I got ya some ammo for your rifle." He said as he handed her two full boxes. Rosalinn knew how expensive .308 was, so she looked at him in disbelief.
"But you need that money for Maggie! Let me pay you ba-" Billy held his fingers to her lips, resulting in a slight blush crossing her cheeks.
"Nuh-uh, missy, not this time. I got her covered, s' don't you worry about her, or me for that matter. You're out there riskin' your life to help out of the goodness of your heart, honey. Someone needs to be good back."
Rosalinn looked down and heaved a perplexed sigh, the slipped the boxes into her bag.
"Thank you, Billy." She said, smiling to him. He grinned and gave her a quick hug.
"Now you take care out there. And say hi to Moira for me."
Rosalinn nodded and waved as he left, then turned back to head inside the store.
He's so sweet. She thought, thankful there were a few nice people around.
As soon as she got inside, she could smell another of Moira's experiments.
Phew, that's harsh on the nose.
"I'm here to continue our work, Moira."
The redhead turned on a dime and smiled wide.
"Hey there, Rosalinn! You're the eager early bird, raring to go this morning! Good for you! So today we're going to send you to Minefield, just a little ways northeast of here! Lemme pin the position in your Pip!"
Rosalinn held out her arm and Moira scrolled in on the place and locked it in.
"So, all I want you to do is go to Minefield and bring me back a mine! Simple, right? And don't you worry about the ghost stories floating around, they can't be true! I mean, ghosts aren't real, right?" She said with a giggle.
"So, is that okay for today?"
Rosalinn nodded. Mines were nothing in comparison to a megaton seemed easy enough.
"Okay, I'm off then!"
"Excellent! See you in a bit, then!"
Rosalinn nodded respectfully to the guard on the way out, who nodded back, admiring the girl who had already braved radiation and a grocery mart filled to the brim with raiders.
Rosalinn stopped by the doc and Jenny's stall to stock up on water, food and stims before heading out of the gates to begin her mission.

After about four hours of walking and a couple bands of raiders, Rosalinn made it to her destination and saw a cute little winding neighborhood, or it would have been cute in its glory. She cautiously continued forward and just as she was about to take another step, she heard beeping.
Oh shit, Oh God I'm done for! She thought instantly before the realization hit that it was just Alias messaging her.
How's it going? Find anything interesting? I wasn't watching for a bit. Getting food.
Rosalinn gritted her teeth.
No, nothing. But you did manage to scare the shit out of me. I'm entering a town littered with mines, apparently, and I thought the Pip notification for your message meant curtains for me! She typed back.
Hush until I'm done!
Sorry hun! Shutting up - observation only!
The Wanderer steeled herself once more and continued in. She managed to avoid several mines, disabling them and stuffing them in her pack to use or sell, grinning to herself with a touch of pride that she hadn't gotten hurt yet. She was revelling in her skill so much that she didn't hear the first few shots of a sniper rifle, not unlike her own, as someone shot the car a few feet away from her. By the time she smelled the fire and noticed it was too late. The vehicle exploded, sending a car door straight for the girl.
She cried out as it hit her and sent her flying into an old white picket fence.
The girl got up slowly, checking herself over, and grabbed a pair of binoculars she had found on a dead merchant and looked through them at the position the shots came from. Sure enough there was a crazed-looking old man in brahmin leather shooting at the cars.
Eyes like a hawk won't match up when you've got speed on your side, and plenty of cover.
Making a bee-line for the structure, she moved quickly, disabling more mines as she went, thankful nothing hurt too badly from the explosion. As she moved, other cars exploded behind her, but she was moving too quickly for the shooter to target her; she wasn't about to let him catch her off-guard again.
Rosalinn finally made it to the structure and crept up the broken down stairs. As she got closer, she saw that the old man was looking for her. She aimed her gun and crept up to catch him before he caught on to how close she was, but while stepping into a better position, she knocked over a bucket. He turned and shot with precision aim, catching her in the left shoulder. Rosie yelped, but she lifted her gun anyways. At least it wasn't the shoulder the gun kicked back on. She aimed and caught him on the side of the face. He yelled and shot back, getting her in the ankle. Rosalinn swore and shot once more, finally getting the guy through the neck on a lucky shot, and he dropped to the ground, dead.
After she started looting him and the surrounding area, she heard a bleep from Alias.
Nice shooting, but holy crap, are you okay?
I will be fine. I'll get Moira to patch me up when I get back to Megaton.
Sure thing. Are you gonna wanna meet me still?/i
Yep. Lemme wrap my ankle and head to the junkyard.
Alrighty then! I'll be waiting! See ya soon, cutie!

Rosalinn arrived at her destination later than expected. She had figured it might take half an hour, but the hobble from her shot ankle made her slow. She thanked every deity she could think of when she made it in one piece.
I'm here. Where are you?
Right behind you, darlin'!
Rosalinn turned and saw a big bulky robot on three legs. It looked at her, and waved. In a mechanical voice, it spoke.
Hiya! Gotcha some things! She said as the robot's panel door opened to reveal a small sack of things: some pure water, more .308 ammo and a small chip and a mic.
And here I thought I would see a human. She smirked as she placed the water and ammo in her bag.
Laughter cam from the bot.
Nope! Not yet anyhow! Okay, so that chip, theres a tiny port on the left side of your Pip that they normally use to put in instruction chips and lesson chips and things like that. Put that chip in and attatch the mic to your ear! I have a voice changer, but it will be me you hear!"
Raising an eyebrow, the woman did as she was asked.
"Okay, it's on."
"Sweet! Hi!" said a voice in her ear. Rosalinn winced.
"Too loud."
"Sorry, lemme fix that... better?"
Rosalinn nodded.
"Yeah, that's better. It's so weird to have someone talking in my ear. I feel kinda like I'm possessed or somethi- hang on. I hear gun shots." She crept around the corner of the building and watched as a dog stood beside the corpse of a merchant and fended off a group of raiders. It made short work of them and when it was done, it nosed it's master for a moment, whining, trying to wake him up. Rosalinn's brows furrowed and she walked up behind him.
"Hey, boy! Is that your Master?" She said softly, pulling a piece of brahmin jerky from her pocket. The dog turned around and almost went after her, but when he saw she was different from the raiders and holding out meat, he whined and cautiously sat in front of her, then gently took the meat from her fingers and chewed it. Rosalinn gently stroked his head as he ate and he whimpered again and nosed her. She smiled and brought out another piece as she looked past him to the bodies.
"I am so sorry your Master is gone, but you can stay with me if you want. It's dangerous to be alone. How about it?"
It seemed he understood, because he barked and wagged his tail, his tongue hanging from his mouth happily. She giggled and looked to the robot.
"Hey, I'm gonna take him home." She said, standing up and having a quick go over of the bodies.
"Sure. He's pretty cute. Heterochromia too. Neat.
As she looted the raiders, and as she was trying to weigh whether or not she should loot the merchant, the canine dragged a bag over to her.
She patted his head.
"You want me to take this?"
The dog sat and watched her.
"You're a smart boy, aren't you? I wonder if you have a name?"
He leaned down and nosed the front pouch of the bag. She raised an eyebrow and opened it to find a single piece of folded paper.

To whomever finds my dog.

If you find me dead and my dog alive, I ask you take him with you, and if you don't keep him, please pass this letter on to whoever does.
This is Dogmeat. He's smart, kind and loyal, and he hates being alone. He's useful, too. He can find ammo, food, water, weapons, whatever you need. And he's a little furry heater at night because he loves to cuddle. Please see he gets care. He's like a child to me, and still kinda acts it, and doesn't deserve to be alone. This bag contains anything of value I might have that you can use or sell in exchange for caring for him, as well as things you can use for him like food and a bowl and water. Please love him.

Thank you.
Bert.

Rosalinn teared and stroked Dogmeat's muzzle, then looked at Bert.
"I will take good care of him, I promise." She whispered. She looked at the canine and smiled.
"Lets bury your old Master, okay? I don't feel right just leaving him out for animals to eat him."

With the help of Alias' sentry bot, Rosalinn dug the man a sizeable grave and placed him in as gently as possible to give him some dignity. Then she replaced the dirt and sighed softly She spoke a psalm for him, one she knew from the bible that her Dad had liked that he read at her mother's funeral. She wasn't religious but she didn't know what else to do to commemorate his life.
She looked down at Dogmeat and patted his sturdy back.
"Shall we go home, boy?"
The dog barked and panted happily.
Rosalinn saluted the sentry bot with two fingers.
"See you later, Alias."
"For sure! Who knows, maybe someday you'll meet me in person and we can get to know each other better!"
Rosalinn rolled her eyes and smirked.
"Uh-huh...you shameless flirt."
"You know it!"
"Good-night Alias."
"Good-night, Cutie!"

Rosalinn returned home and caught Moira just before she closed and the woman squealed in delight and handed Rosalinn some gear and a few caps. Rosalinn nodded.
"Kay, well I am off to bed. Night Moira, see you tomorrow."
Moira waved and mentioned something about the next step of her book.
"Don't worry, Moira, I'll be here bright and early tomorrow."

The girl yawned and walked out of the shop, letting her hair down from it's usual ponytail as she slowly walked to the railing. She looked up through the patches of cloud at the stars and lost herself in thought, the dog happily panting away beside her.
"Dad, I could really use your help right now. Then again if I knew where you were, this would all be solved by now." She said as she stared into the skies. She didn't even notice Billy come up behind her and watch her for a second or two before tapping her shoulder.
"Welcome back, missy. How are you doin'?"
The girl looked back at him, her face solemn in the moonlight. But not even the pale light could hide her flush seeing him. She looked down.
"I'm alright, thanks. You?"
Billy laughed a little.
"Ah, nothing new. But I can see you've got a lot on your mind. Need to talk? Over a cold Nuka maybe? My treat. We can bring 'em to your place if you like, that way you can really rest your dogs."
Dogmeat barked and Rosalinn giggled softly. Billy found the sound somewhat musical and he felt a little something stir in him hearing it.
"Sure. Can we not get them from Moriarty's though?"
"Nah. I have some at home."
"Good. Eaten yet?"
"Nah. Why, you offerin'?"
"Least I could do for you being so kind to me. Brahmin steak?"
"Aw, honey you're singin' my tune."
Rosalinn grinned.
"I make a mean steak. Hope you're prepared to be addicted like a raider to chems."
Billy put an arm around her and looked at her with his good eye.
"You're a good woman, Ms. Lawrence."
"Just call me Rosalinn."
"Alright then, Rosalinn."
A tingle streaked up her spine when he said her name, That happened a lot now, when she was near him. But this time, he noticed. Between the flush in her cheeks and her demeanor, old Billy was starting to get the picture. He thought she was a real beauty, but he wasn't one to come onto a lady without the right situation. Though, now that he thought about it, he may have created one unintentionally.