"Aw, no!" Nora complained, and Piper followed her gaze, recognizing the familiar swirl of clouds that indicated the beginnings of one of the usual spontaneous radiation storms.
"Well, crap. That ruins the plan of getting to Jamaica Plain before sundown, huh?" Piper groaned, glancing about in an attempt to spot some sort of shelter.
"Let's go there," Nora told her, grabbing Piper's wrist and pulling her in her wake. Piper looked ahead and saw that they were headed for a small, raggedy shed that was barely enough cover for the rad-storm's assault.
Nora released Piper's arm once they got to the door. The vault-dweller wound her hand over her shoulder and pulled her shotgun from its place on her back.
The brunette looked the reporter in the eye and jerked her chin in the direction of the door, readying her gun as she prepared to aim.
Piper nodded silently in response, drawing her pistol from her side. Nora threw her a questioning look and Piper interpreted that she was asking if the journalist was prepared.
Piper shrugged her shoulders, signifying her agreement.
Nora then shoved the door open, immediately barging in with her gun at the ready. Piper followed along closely, flanking the slightly taller woman.
She scoured the room quickly with a glance. There were a few bags of fertilizer and some old rusty tools, but other than that, there weren't any signs of life. The vault-dweller lowered her gun and placed it back in its original place.
A boom of thunder resounded throughout the tiny shelter, and Nora ambled over to a spot in the corner of the shed. Piper watched as the woman plopped down on the ground and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. She followed suit and sat down heavily beside her, resting her arms on her knees as she reclined against the wooden structure.
The reporter glanced at the vault-dweller's face. Her brow was furrowed in a serious expression and she overall just seemed a bit on edge. Piper knew that the rad-storms scared Nora a bit, despite the fact that the brunette would never admit it.
Piper looked around the shed, trying to find something that could be a topic of conversation.
To her great disappointment, the entire room was devoid of anything that could be even slightly intriguing. Suddenly, the reporter remembered the bubblegum in her pocket. Perhaps it would distract Nora and keep her from getting so nervous.
Piper cocked her elbow to the side, sticking a hand in her pocket to pull out the package of gum. However, as soon as she did that, her elbow accidentally bumped into Nora's side. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, but it was a bit firm.
As soon as Piper opened her mouth to mutter an apology, she heard a small, quick huff come from the woman beside her. Piper narrowed her eyes, raising an eyebrow. She purposefully rummaged through her coat pocket, bumping Nora's side again to gauge her reaction.
Nora huffed again, but this time it was a bit harder and her lips trembled a bit.
Piper was starting to understand exactly the response that she was getting from the golden-tanned woman and, with her eyes on Nora's face, she poked her side.
"Piper, don't do that," Nora grounded out lowly in response to the reporter's experimental prod, her face contorted into a steely expression and her teeth gritted.
"Why?" Piper questioned, an increasingly growing sly smirk consuming her features. She evilly shifted her glance from the brunette's face to her ribcage.
"Because I don't want you to."
"Why don't you?"
"Just do what I- HAHAHAHAHA! Stop, please! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Piper, stop!" Nora cried out, trying to stop the assault of wiggling fingers on her sides.
"Aha! You're ticklish! I am so using this to my advantage!" Piper cheekily announced, relentlessly assailing Nora's ribcage.
"Would you please- please stop?!" Nora begged between laughs, trying desperately to cover every sensitive spot on her torso.
"Well," Piper stopped moving her fingers but kept her hands firmly in place on the vault-dweller, "I guess since you asked nicely, I'll have mercy on you," Piper told her and removed her hands from the woman, folding the appendages on her knees.
Nora leaned back, recovering from the giggles and taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.
"But, I'm definitely going to remember this little tidbit of info. Just keep that in mind," Piper smiled happily with a mischievous glint in her eyes, proud of the fact that she had actually succeeded in distracting her friend from the outside conditions.
"Noted. And defenses are officially in place."