Chance
Chapter 4: Introductions
Nightfall was well underway when Nuka World's main gate came into view. Roulette seemed almost as if she were meant to be there as she came up to the gate where a handful of armed raiders stood, chatting with one another. MacCready kept by her side, constantly reminding himself not to draw his gun on them.
"Roulette. You come to negotiate with the boss? He could probably get you in and set for a time," one of the raiders stated, upon noticing their arrival.
"You know as well as anyone that I'm not interested in being one of you," Roulette replied.
"Hey, you'd make a good raider, just keep that in mind."
"I'm not like any of you jerks."
The raider chuckled, "Keep telling yourself that, Roulette. Just keep telling yourself that."
Roulette shook her head, glaring a bit at the raider. "And he's with me," she off-handedly stated, motioning over her shoulder to MacCready.
The raider simply nodded, letting the pair by. MacCready was in a state of silent awe at what he'd just seen, and quiet concern at the comments which the raider had made. He was traveling with someone who would be spoken of as potentially being a 'good raider'. From his time with the Gunners, he knew what that meant. It meant that this kid was not someone to mess with. Why the hell had he decided to come along, again?
That didn't matter, now, as the ex-Gunner followed the teen in through the gate. Inside, the pathways of the park were lined with people, piles of rubble and junk, and makeshift stands and seating areas. Roulette paid little attention to what was around her, as she followed the path with MacCready in tow. The pair passed by several buildings, which were being used by the raiders, earning a few sideways glances and occasional remark getting thrown at Roulette, who would respond with a practiced, sometimes snide or sarcastic remark.
Several moments went by like this, before Roulette stopped in front of one of the buildings. A very subtle smile crossed her features, before it disappeared as quickly as it had come.
"You remember what I told you last night?" Roulette questioned, placing a hand on the door and looking over her shoulder at her companion. MacCready gave her a nod of confirmation.
"Good. Because this is where you'll need it," she said over her shoulder. With that, Roulette pushed open the door. Almost immediately, there were two guns drawn and trained right on them. MacCready had to force himself not to go for his own gun, while Roulette shook her head a bit.
"He's with me, you two," the girl said. "I wouldn't turn on you like that, you know."
"Can never be too sure, Roulette," stated one of the armed people in front of them.
"C'mon, Gage, he didn't even reach for his weapon."
With a sigh, the armored man lowered his gun.
"Good to see you again, Rou," offered the second armed person. The redhead put away her 10 mm without protest as she offered a calm smile.
"Same to you, Cherry."
"Rou?" MacCready echoed in question.
"She just started calling me that at some point, and it sort of just stuck," Roulette explained with a shrug.
"C'mon, even you think it's cute," Cherry offered.
"Keep telling yourself that, Cherry," Roulette answered with a roll of her eyes.
"So, who's your friend, Roulette?" the raider-looking man, Gage, asked.
"He isn't really a friend, he just came along with me. This is MacCready. Mac, this is Cherry and Gage," Roulette explained, taking the moment to introduce MacCready to the other two in the room.
"I think I've heard of you. You wouldn't happen to have in in the Capital at some point, would you?" Cherry questioned.
"Yeah, actually. Why?" MacCready answered.
"Wait… You can't be… Mayor MacCready?"
Roulette did her best to stifle a fit of laughter, "Mayor?" she managed, before starting to lose her composure.
"Yep! I was really young, but I remember a Mayor MacCready running Little Lamplight back in the Capital."
A look of realization came to MacCready's face. "Do not tell me you were that little bi- eh, creep that kept stealing and hiding my fu- my ammo all the time," he stated.
"Hah, that was me! And what's this, no cursing? That's a change."
"You're still sarcastic, though."
"Um, what the hell is going on right now?" Roulette cut in, trying to break up the back and forth which left Gage and herself watching in awkward confusion.
Cherry laughed a bit, "Just some reminiscing, doesn't really matter. What matters, is that you're back in town. Let me guess, you've got another set you need on?"
"Two, actually. Just wrapped up a job a couple of days ago," Roulette informed her.
Gage let out a bit of a chuckle. "You work fast, don't you?" he asked.
"Goodneighbor's a great place to find work," Roulette replied.
Gage nodded in reply, "I guess it would be, considering what's rumored to go on around there."
Cherry gave a nod, "That, and she works fast. So, Rou, that'll be, what, ten tallies?"
"Yep. It'll bring it up to thirty."
"Already? I didn't think you'd been doing this for so long."
"The first five were before we met, remember?"
"Right. I'll get my kit, you get prepped."
Roulette nodded, as Cherry went around the corner to a different room. The young woman shrugged off her bag, removed her armor, and unbuttoned and shrugged off her overshirt, leaving her in a beat-up black tank-top. The shoulder of her left arm was adorned with sets of black tally marks, all tattooed into her fair skin, standing out like ink on a page.
"I'm guessing you're adding to whatever those stand for?" MacCready asked, motioning to the tallies on her arm.
"Yeah, I tend to keep track of how many I've taken out," Roulette explained. "Not sure why, maybe so people don't try to mess with me, I guess."
MacCready nodded a bit, "So, how'd you meet these guys?"
"I met Cherry a few years ago. I guess she'd just come up from the capital, and ended up in the settlement my dad and I were living in," Roulette began. "Gage came in later on, a couple of years ago, after I got myself into a rough spot."
"A rough spot?" Gage cut in. "You were going around with a gang of-"
"I thought we agreed not to talk about that," Roulette quickly interjected, before Gage could fully disclose the situation he'd found Roulette in.
Before things went too much further, Cherry returned with a kit in her hands. Roulette hopped up onto the table close to the group. The redhead took out what looked to be an old tattoo gun, and she prepared it, as well as Roulette's arm. The device buzzed as it came to life and began to make the new black marks on her arm.
"Don't tattoos hurt?" MacCready asked. From what he'd always assumed, it hurt to have that kind of thing done, considering it was a needle punching into your skin who knows how many times.
"Yeah, they did when I first started doing this, but I've kind of gotten used to the feeling at this point," Roulette answered.
The next several hours following Roulette's tattoo additions being finished and wrapped up went by fairly quickly. The four chatted about this and that, long after Cherry had finished her work. Cherry told a handful of animated stories, which were difficult to see as either reality or fiction. Meanwhile, Gage and MacCready enjoyed a few drinks, and Roulette listened to Cherry's tales, and wrote a few things in a notebook.
It was well into the night when they decided to turn in. Gage and MacCready were the first to turn in, followed by Cherry. Roulette remained up and about, working on a few modifications to a couple of weapons. The young woman wasn't all that tired, anyways, and she had too much to think about to get to sleep, especially after these introductions.