It was Gob flinching rather then the sound of the door opening that got Nova to look up from her glaring-contest with her glass of water.
Moriarty had been especially prissy as of late, and it hadn't helped when the news reached them that the brotherhood had troops at the gate of all things. That had left the old man fuming, especially since it had delighted Lucas Simms to remind the saloon owner of the brotherhood's stance on slavery and what marked an upstanding citizen.
Right now the man was sleeping though, which was good, since Nova wouldn't want to deal with the hostility of him talking to the armoured behemoth stepping through the door. She had of course seen them before, but the sight of a power armoured brotherhood knight always took Nova's breath away, making her feel terribly small.
Gob took a stumbling step backwards, terror written across his decayed features. The armoured warrior raised an open hand though, the gesture placating: "There is no danger ghoul, you are...Gob was it?" Voice...female wasn't it?
"That's right." Gob replied, though he still hadn't walked back to his usual spot and was still tense, ready to leap into Moriarty's room and any cover he might find. Nova frowned, the brotherhood warrior still stood in the entrance to the saloon, shoulders slightly turned to fit through the snug fit.
Taking a furtive step into the room the warrior closed the door behind herself. "John mentioned you, rest assured, the brotherhood will not bother you."
"Erm...thank you?" Gob scratched his head and relaxed...a little. "Wait, did you say John?"
Taking another two steps forward the brotherhood warrior reached up and pulled her helmet off. The face revealed was that of a beautiful blonde, unblemished and full of energy...who spoke of John. Nova instantly found her frown turning into a glare. The blonde didn't seem to notice though as she walked forward and placed a hand on the counter. "That's right, I was supposed to say hello to you and...Nova wasn't it?" She pointed a finger at the seated Nova.
"That's right." She growled back, trying to discern the motive of the other woman and failing. "And you are...?"
"Sarah Lyon's." The woman nodded curtly before turning over to Gob: "A drink if you please?" When Gob turned to get a glass she grimaced at his back, great...why was Nova even surprised? Damn John's fault... "Oh and Nova, John claimed you had an ear to the ground...anything you could tell me?" Finally she seemed to notice Nova's look. "Erm...John asked me to ask you."
"I'm not surprised, he's smart, ask the whore, get the juicy details." Great, now she was whining, what was with her today?
"Actually he referred to you as a good friend and one not to be referred to in that way..." Sarah grimaced. "Quite adamant about it too, he's a bit scary when he glares at you isn't he?"
"That sounds like him." Nova replied, sudden joy bubbling up within her. Friend...and defending her...respect. She of course knew he thought of her like that after all this time...but she never got tired of it, it was so different from the usual drag of the day... "And nothings up, a lot of talks about traders being assaulted by power armoured men in the west, some claim it's the work of the brotherhood even..." She eyed Sarah carefully, noting a sudden flicker of irritation in the blonde's baby blue eyes, God she rubbed Nova the wrong way...
"That's the enclave, not us, and if all I've heard of them is true they're quite the evil group of people." Sarah raised her chin, eyes afire with no doubt vain thoughts of glorious battle. Ugh, like John...but annoying. "They killed his father and now hold the Jefferson memorial...not to mention them apparently attacking innocent civilians."
"Yeah they might not...they killed his father?!" Nova found her hand close around a steel forearm, her stare apparently freaking Sarah out as the woman pulled back a little. "John's father...James...they killed him!? When!? How!? Where!? Speak up dammit!"
Sarah managed a weak smile, that Nova just wanted to scratch right off, before replying: "As I said they took the Jefferson memorial, I don't know the details but apparently James got killed. It was...maybe nine days ago?" She saw Nova's horrified look and added: "And as I said I've talked to John, so he's still alive."
"Oh..." Nova breathed a sigh of relief despite logic already having told her the man was alive. "Is...is he okay?"
The blonde frowned, nodding a thanks to Gob as he placed a glass in front of her and begun pouring her some Vodka. Yes, be polite when Gob's facing you...now talk about John you ditz! "Okay is such a general term... He seems fine, too fine if you know what I mean...like he's mentally blocking it out."
"Ah." Nova winced. John in more pain...didn't it ever stop? "He's always been searching for his father...what does he do now?" She winced again, John without a purpose seemed...wrong, she couldn't begin to imagine how it felt for him. Or rather, due to knowing him she could...and wished she couldn't. "Is he around here somewhere?" Gob eyed her carefully, no doubt she had slipped up again...damn.
"He's helping us actually." Sarah replied, smiling, a distant look in her eyes. Back off...bitch. "To make his father's wish a reality he is going west to find something very important to us." She chuckled. "Only wanted three things for it too, a suit of power armour, some ammunition and us to put a garrison here." She glanced over at Nova, a wry look on her face. "No doubt to protect those important to him..."
"Sounds like our hero." Gob grumbled, drawing Sarah's attention from a hesitating Nova. "So he's still working to make that clean water deal a reality? That's nice." He scratched his chin, pulling off a thin strip of skin and making Sarah grimace, the woman obviously not used to the peculiarities of ghouls. "Only, if he's gone west...shouldn't he have passed here?"
Nova looked up, bashing her embarrassment aside. "Yes, what's up with that?" Didn't he have time for them? She could of course understand that but it was a little painful anyway, was the hero too busy for them now? That was sad, for him and h...them both.
Sarah shrugged. "Well, he took as much of our supplies he could carry and then moved on, he didn't want to lose any time before the enclave becomes too well entrenched in the west and makes his job more difficult." That made sense...Nova watched Sarah take a slight sip of her drink before continuing: "I also believe he was in a hurry to go back to his vault to fix some sort of problem."
"What? His vault? I always assumed they wouldn't want him back after leaving their little part of paradise." Nova snorted.
"Well, probably not...but he got a call from some girl in there called Amata, apparently he feels he owes her something...or whatever."
"Amata...old girlfriend?" What if she took him back? What if they took him back? What would happen? Would he stay? Leave h...them here? Would the wasteland be deprived of its hero? What would then happen? What would happen to her and Gob? Would hope once more become nothing more than a word? Would he ever think of h...them!? Ugh...calm down woman!
The blonde laughed. "Hey! That's what I asked!" She shrugged, which seemed impossible in such massive armour, but what did Nova know? "He just said she was a friend, still, what guy would go into potential hostile territory for an old friend?"
"I know of one." Nova muttered, her interest once more fastened on the glass in front of her. Was Sarah right? Had John just said it to be diplomatic? Why would he go into danger just because someone asked? Well she knew why on that one...but was there an extra reason to this on? Ugh...why does she care anyway? It's not like-
"Heh, you're right about that one." Sarah shrugged. "I wouldn't worry much though, he seemed awfully confident he would resolve the whole thing in an hour or so and then move on west."
"Is...is that good news?" Nova frowned, unsure herself. He gets the thing done and then moves on to help the world, great...but it also meant going into territory of those enclave types who sounded quite vicious... Nova didn't like the thought of that.
"For the brotherhood yes, and for Megaton since the deal we made will still apply and our garrison will continue to defend you from enclave forces." Was Sarah uninteresting answer, then she took another sip out of the glass. Was it just Nova or did she hold it very carefully? Maybe she was scared of ghoul-germs? Ugh, pathetic. "As for John...I'm pretty sure he can handle it. He apparently killed a few enclave troopers when escaping Jefferson Memorial, considering their armour and weapons I'm impressed..."
"That's not really comforting." Nova noted glumly. Her mind filled with images of heavily armed soldiers in power armour coming at John... She winced, forcing herself not to think of them shooting him, killing him, leaving him to blankly stare at the sky as carrions...Nova squeezed her glass harder. "B...but he'll be fine, lands on his feet...always does...right?"
"Don't worry Nova, I'm sure he'll be fine." Gob assured her, taking a quick step forward and resting a gnarled hand on her wrist, patting it lightly.
She closed her eyes, nodding silently. Poor Gob...the kind words and gestures...because of her worry of...of... She sighed, poor Gob... To her relief Sarah cleared her throat, stopping Nova from having to break the awkwardness herself. "Yes, since he's capable of frightening me I actually feel sorry for the enclave...and just about anything else getting in the way. I just hope he doesn't go philosophical on them."
Blinking Nova forced herself not to look at Gob, knowing that the expression there would be too painful to watch, instead she focused on miss pretty in armour. "Excuse me...philosophical? I know he's a bit of an egghead compared to the usual schmucks around, got morals and all that stuff...but I would put him at being philosophical..."
"Really?" Sarah grimaced. "He spent a good fifteen minutes discussing a sundown with me...crept me out I tell you."
Nova grimaced. Great, so now miss pretty got to watch a sundown with him... "Yes, poor you. I thought brotherhood knights were supposed to be tough."
"Oh we are." Sarah looked down at Nova with a look that would have been terrifying if Nova hadn't learnt to tackle the worst John could throw at her by now. "But to hear a guy calmly go on about how the sundown was beautiful because of the danger of the night..." She shuddered, averting her eyes. "...and then go on with the beauty of deathclaws as well...that man got a screw loose I tell you."
"Yeah..." Nova smiled tightly, throwing a warm look at Gob now busy digging into the cash register, then herself...clutching the glass in her hands until her knuckles turned white, and Sarah, armoured head to toe. "...aren't we all?"