Songs: Crooked Still - Little Sadie; Neko Case - Things That Scare Me; The Bones of J. R. Jones - Hammers And Nails
I was pretty exhausted once we had made it up the rock pillar and had made it to the little makeshift house that was almost on top of it. I was also covered in varkid bits and dust, so I really hoped that whoever lived in that house had some water and maybe a change of clothes.
"She should be here..." Anouk mumbled while wiping some varkid goo from her ECHO device.
"Hey! Who's that out there? Don't come any closer, I'm warnin' you now!" we suddenly heard a man shout. I squinted at the little house and there was a man standing there, holding an old and rusty rifle. From the way he was holding it he probably had little idea of what he was doing.
"We're just here for our friend, she said she was up here!" Anouk replied. The man looked at us a little suspiciously and then looked into the house, saying something we couldn't understand. Shortly after, Jael came outside, all safe and sound. And relaxed. Man, I should have known she'd go and chill out until the worst was over. Honestly, it was a pretty smart move on her part.
"Jael! For God's sake, I've been worried!" Anouk exclaimed and ran up to her to hug her. The man just stood around awkwardly, as Mordecai and I slowly walked up to them. He seemed to spend a lot of time working out in the sun, judging from his build and his tanned skin.
"Uh... so you know Jael?" he asked.
"Yeah, we do. She's with us. Unless she changed her mind and doesn't wanna be a Raider anymore." I answered. He nodded.
"I'm Hirschim, by the way. Good to see someone normal out here. We don't see many people and the ones we do see usually mean no good."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Nova and this is Mordecai. We're from Sanctuary... well, we were, before it got blown out of the sky." I said. Shit. I didn't even know where we were living right now. Somewhere out in the desert. Maybe we should start rebuilding stuff on the ground, even though that would probably take ages and make us all an easier target for bandits again.
"Ah, yes. Awful shame, that. Do you wanna come in and sit down for a while? My little daughter's gonna be over the moon seeing you guys. She's into all that Raider and Vault Hunter stuff." Hirschim replied.
"She's gonna be delighted to meet Mordecai then. He's opened the first vault a few years back here on Pandora." I told him.
"Really? That's amazing! Oh, Gracie's gonna be so excited when she hears this." Hirschim answered and rushed inside.
"You're a Vault Hunter, too." Mordecai mumbled, not too happy about the prospect of getting that much attention all of a sudden.
"No, I'm not." I replied while we slowly walked over to Anouk and Jael who were talking. It looked like a pretty lively discussion.
"You opened a Vault with the others, didn't you?" Mordecai countered. I sighed. Yeah, I had, but I didn't feel like any of that made me a Vault Hunter.
"I didn't really DO anything, though. I was just there for the end. That's all. I'm no Vault Hunter." I said.
"But you are. And if you don't think you're one yet, then you'll definitely be one once we leave Pandora to look for more Vaults."
"Mordy, I can barely stay alive! I'm not at all a Vault Hunter." I protested, but in the back of my head I couldn't stop thinking that he was kind of right. I mean, what else was I? I had signed up for hunting vaults earlier, so that effectively made me a Vault Hunter, didn't it? It just didn't feel like it.
"Do you have any idea how many teams we barely stayed alive? It's not something that makes you less qualified for the job." Mordecai replied.
"I suppose. I don't know. I'll need some time to get used to the thought." I said quietly as we had walked up to Jael and Anouk.
"You two okay?" Mordecai asked. They looked at each other.
"We're just talking about stuff. But yeah, we're... we're okay." Anouk answered and smiled a little. She looked somewhat nervous.
"We'll figure it out." Jael added, looking way more confident in what she was doing here. Not like I could blame her. Whatever anyone was thinking about that girl, she had her shit together. She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get there. Somehow. She had it more together than I did just a couple of years ago.
"You wanna come inside with us or not?" I asked them.
"I think we're gonna need a minute. That okay?" Anouk replied. I nodded. Poor girl. This was the first time that she actually seemed like a daughter to me. She had always seemed very collected and hands-down, but right now I realized that she was still young and that she still had her life ahead of her. Hell, she was 19. And she had grown up way more privileged than I ever had and it started showing a little. Not in a bad way, just... different.
"Alright then. We're gonna head inside and let you two figure stuff out. See you later." I answered and walked towards the house with Mordecai.
"They arguing?" Mordecai asked quietly. I looked at him confused. How did he not notice that they hadn't been on the same page for weeks?
"Where have you been the past month?" I replied and laughed a little. He shrugged.
"Helping Lilith with stuff. Hunting. Helping Brick raise Tina. All that. I mean, we talked about all that earlier, I know, but it seemed they were pretty happy seeing each other again...?" he wanted to know.
"I think they just have different ideas on life and they're about to realise that. I've kinda seen it coming with Jael fitting in pretty well with the Raiders and all." I answered and shrugged. I felt sorry for Anouk, but it happened to all of us. Some things worked out and some didn't. That was just life, I guess.
"Is Anouk gonna be okay?" Mordecai asked.
"She'll be fine. Maybe not at first, but she'll get over it. We'll see what they come up with, anyway." I said, as we walked inside the small house. It was basically all just one room with different parts sectioned off into little rooms. Hirschim was standing at a kitchen counter and cooking some food. He was smiling widely as he saw us coming in.
"Hey, Gracie, they're here!" he shouted. Not long after a little girl stuck her head out from behind a wall and looked at us with big eyes. She was probably only around five or six years old and had dark brown hair that was held together in a messy braid. She giggled as she saw us and hid behind her wall again.
"Come on in, sit down. She's a bit shy." Hirschim said with a big smile on his face. I walked up to one of the chairs and sat down quietly while Hirschim wandered off into the part that seemed to be the kitchen.
"I was just making us some dinner, we've got enough for y'all. Do you want something to drink?" he asked next.
"Oh, that's okay, we really don't wanna overstay our welcome or anything..." I answered quickly.
"Ah, nonsense! You can stay as long as you like. We don't have much, but it'll be enough." Hirschim protested.
"We'll stay for dinner. Thanks, Hirschim." Mordecai replied. That's when we heard one of the chairs move slowly and shortly after a small face popped up at the table. It was the little girl looking at us with big eyes.
"And what was your name again?" I asked her and smiled. She smiled back at me.
"I'm Grace. Who are you?" she replied, looking a little less shy and more curious now. She probably barely ever met any other people.
"I'm Nova." I answered. Grace nodded and looked at Mordecai.
"Mordecai." he mumbled finally.
"Are you Vault Hunters?" she wanted to know next. Mordecai and I looked at each other, grinning.
"Yup." Mordy said and took a sip of the tea that Hirschim had just placed in front of us. It smelled pretty good and was probably made from some of the local mushrooms. There was a weird variety in mushrooms on Pandora and a few of them were actually edible. I had used them a lot in omelettes.
"Wow." Grace just gasped and looked at us with awe in her eyes. It felt a little strange, because I never thought anyone would ever look up to me. Then again, I had changed a lot since coming to Pandora.
"I wanna be a Vault Hunter some day." Grace mumbled shortly after that and looked down, as if she was embarrassed to admit it.
"Hey, Gracie, you know that's really dangerous and I don't want anything happening to you." Hirschim chimed in.
"They're still alive and well!" she protested and pointed at Mordecai and me. Well, I wouldn't exactly say we were alive and well...
"Your father's right. It's dangerous and not for everyone. I almost died a few weeks ago. Nova had to get a robotic leg not too long ago, cause she got hurt real bad. It's not an easy job." Mordecai replied.
"You're still able to do it. I'll get there when I'm older!" Grace said.
"You ever held a gun?" I asked her. Maybe - just maybe - it might be an idea to teach her for a little while and then she could easily join Lilith in the Raiders whenever she was ready. Wasn't that why Lilith was staying behind anyway? Getting new recruits and finding new Vault Hunters?
"Uh... no..." she answered, her head hanging down low. Mordecai and I looked at each other and nodded. He knew exactly what I was getting at.
"You wanna learn how to hold and shoot a gun? We can teach you for a bit. You'll need to know whether you're a Vault Hunter or not. What do ya think?" he said, a slight smile on his lips. Grace looked up, a big excited smile on her face.
"That would be awesome!" she exclaimed and looked over at Hirschim who smiled at her, but looked a little concerned.
"Daddy, can I? Please?"
"I don't know if it's such a good idea, sweetie..."
"Please, daddy? Please, please, please!"
"Alright, fine. But be careful, okay? Promise you'll be careful?" Hirschim said. Grace just nodded enthusiastically.
"Don't worry, Hirschim. We'll start slow, no live bullets, nothing dangerous yet." I replied, as Grace already ran ahead outside. I didn't think it was much of a consolation, but at least we tried. And Mordecai was right - at some point the kid would need to learn how to shoot if the two of them were to stay on Pandora. Too many dangerous things out here.