Sorry this took so long! This part has been written for ages but I just didn't like it. Oh well. If you're keen on my writing, I have another story up on my profile :)
Annie had escaped death with a popped shoulder, a sprained ankle and a few deep cuts on her face. Other than a bit of gravel rash from her fall, she was right to walk around as soon as the doctor had looked at her. He made comments about her grungy look the entire time, but she scoffed at him under her breath all the same. Assholes were not to be given so much slack, but then again not every asshole was armed to the teeth with missiles.
They ate lunch in Pearl's barracks, talking to the old woman about the history and pride of the Boomers, slightly taking offense to the whole 'savage' situation but letting it slip. Annie didn't blame them, considering she had arrived looking like a bat out of hell on a bad day, possibly mentally scarring the few decent soldiers by the fence.
But the ex-vault dwellers seemed to be okay, other than their lack of conversational tact and awkward stares.
They allowed her to clean up and change in their barracks, which gave Annie a chance for a new outfit and a brush of the hair. Hopefully they wouldn't see her as such a beast after they saw she wasn't a mangy mutt with a very strict looking owner.
Boone was sitting on the steps of the female barracks; waiting for Annie to return so they could check out the scene. Pearl had mentioned something about gaining the Boomer's trust, so it was going to be another game of 'Do Stupid Things for Stupid Reasons'. Another one of those missions – Annie's favourite.
Gaining a few giggles and eyes from a few of the younger tribal girls, the man awkwardly cleaned his gun while they sat around and watched. It was very productive of them; he had to admit, trying his best to ignore their coos of attention.
"What's your name?" One of them asked, staring up at the handsome man with butterfly eyes. He sat silently for a moment, trying not to let the blood seep to his cheeks at the thought of a much younger girl (or really a whole group of them) hitting on him.
"Craig." He spoke, and they all twittered at once. It was the first time they had laid their eyes on some fresh meat, and it didn't hurt at all that Boone was not that hard to look at. The older man just felt weird.
The door opened behind him and the girls scattered, giggling off in all different directions at the look on Annie's face. Turning to look behind him he found the courier, looking fresh and clean for the second time that day. She placed her hand on his shoulder to steady herself, crouching to jump off the stairs only to straighten in front of him.
She was back in her charming merc gear, her armour being repaired by the town's seamstress.
"Making some friends?" Annie asked, grinning. She had even taken some time to do her make up lightly, trying to impress the rigid tribals with a bit of civility. Boone didn't answer, standing to full height beside her as she flicked through her pipboy. "So we'll have a look around, go ask some people if they need any help… You know, the works. Then we'll get to it."
"Thrilling plan."
"You are the worst lately." She laughed at him. "It's been a good day – cheer up! I'm not dead, you're not dead, we're all healthy and look at where we are!"
He gave her a sour look as they departed, the girls he met earlier swooping in from different occasions to introduce themselves to Annie. The courier was very happy with the attention, asking the teens where they could find themselves some work. They were pointed in the direction of the large hangar, seemingly miles away from the main point of town.
"Bye Craig~" They waved him goodbye as they walked, the courier looking up at the angsty man with a cheeky smile.
"They're a bit young for you, don't you think?" She teased and he huffed, pushing his hands into the pockets of his pants. Watching her walk in the afternoon sun, Boone noticed all the little cuts and bruises she had tried to cover up. It hadn't worked though, rimming her eyes a deep purple and making them look ten times larger than they usually were. She was chewing her nails, limping gracelessly on her aching ankle. It was an odd sight, Annie usually the more energetic of the two. Watching her drag herself around was a little flooring.
Reaching the hangar, they were greeted by the smell of stale air and gunpowder. It took them a while to react to the light change, Boone removing his sunglasses in a last ditch effort attempt to see. The man that greeted them was an old fellow, stark white hair and a stiff jaw. The younger man beside him was a jittery kid who blanched when he finally laid eyes on Annie.
"I hope Pearl knows what she's doing, letting you wander around Nellis as you please."
"We're just looking for ways to make ourselves useful." Annie smiled sweetly, nodding her head in respect. The old man sighed, scratching his wrist before taking a swing glance at Boone.
"Well, Raquel has a bit of an ant problem… And Jack here needs some spare parts…"
"We can do spare parts." Annie told them, clasping her hands together, not too keen on the idea of returning to Raquel. The Master-At-Arms was not the nicest woman on the planet, making the hairs on the back of the courier's neck raise with irritation every time she spoke. "What are you after?"
"Scrap metal." Jack piped up beside Loyal, stepping forward to shake Annie's hand. "Wow, so you're an outsider? Lived your whole life out there, huh? Wow." Annie sniffed a laugh at him, shaking his hand merrily before he turned to Boone and did the same. "I always thought you savages spoke a different language, but you sound just like us."
"… Savages…" Annie breathed, blinking before turning red. "Oh, no, we're the same. Everyone speaks the same language out in the wastes." She looked up at Boone, who shrugged in return. Loyal left at the apparent tact of the boy, leaving the three alone in the small metal room. "So this scrap metal… how much do you need?"
"As much as you can get. We need to recycle every rivet in this place… And uh, since you're from the outside maybe you can help me with something more personal-" He caught the horrified look on Annie's face, turning red with embarrassment. The two of them stared at, both equally as uncomfortable as the other. "Never mind."
"No, no… I know you didn't mean… What… What is it?" She asked, shaking her head and waving her hand. "Where I come from people talk personal matters all the time." She patted Boone on the chest and he tensed.
"Well that must be nice… sharing yourself like that, not being embarrassed or anything?" He ruffled around in his desk, pulling out a slip of paper to palm it softly. "There's this girl…"
Annie's eyes brightened. "Tell me about it."
Boone wished she had taken the ant job.
That night they ate dinner in the mess hall, Boone crowded with younger girls and Annie chatting avidly with the children. The kids had taken quite a shine to them, interested in the outsider's strange clothes and war stories. The courier was telling the kids about deathclaws and ghouls and how she nearly got mugged that one time in Freeside… The children loved it, thrilled with the idea of a life of action and the constant fear of death – and the elders loved the fact that the children loved them.
The Boomers didn't turn out to be as bad as the courier had originally thought. They were xenophobic, which made all the more sense to her as the day went on. The duo had spent the afternoon in the museum, learning the tribal stories and chatting about life inside a fence with the little boy who ran the place. He even let her take the Nellis snow globe sitting on the desk, a little reminder of their own decent slice of heaven. Annie was getting used to being called a 'savage' too.
She had forgotten the feeling of a tribe; the sense of a close-knit community filling a hole in her heart that she didn't even know was there. There once was a time when she belonged to something the same – a piece of a puzzle that actually fit.
Jack sat down across from her out of nowhere, his blonde hair pushed off of his head by a pair of welding goggles. He passed her a piece of paper, grinning awkwardly at her while she unfolded it. Annie felt Boone's eyes burn into her shoulder, turning her torso so he could read it just as comfortably. But it wasn't a note - it was a picture.
Annie looked up at the boy, eyes wide but suddenly filled with happiness. The sniper took the photo from her hands, scanning over it with tired eyes before letting out a soft 'hmm'.
"When you walked in today, it scared the hell out of me. I don't know how old that photo is, but you and her look a lot alike. It was like a ghost, or ghoul, even." He leant on the table to reclaim the photo to show to certain points with the tip of his finger. "Look; same hair, same eyes, same nose…"
"I wish…" Annie moaned, heart beating like a drum. "She's beautiful."
"She must have been someone's girlfriend before the great war. I found it in one of the old crates a few years ago. Must have stayed in good condition because it's so dark and dry in here…" He tittered on like a schoolgirl "I always thought she was very pretty, so I kept it…" he trailed off, cheeks swimming with pink once again.
The courier smiled, the picture thrilling her to no end. The woman looked like her Jack of Spades that was currently wedged between the bathroom mirror and its frame, locked up in the dusty old Lucky 38 – albeit with more clothes.
He folded the picture, tucking it into his breast pocket. "I have to go and talk to Loyal now, but let me know how it goes with the red-haired girl."
"Of course." Annie beamed.