Chapter 7: A New Look, A New Home

I stood up and and looked at the ramp that led to my new home. I needed to get away. She was getting personal.

I wonder what the house looks like?

I guess it's time to find out.

I ran up the steps, eager to see my new home. I unlocked the door and threw it open.

"Hello, Madame. My name is Wadsworth. I am your new robot butler."

I jumped back in surprise. It was indeed another robot. This one had an accent like Dad though and looked just like Andy.

"H-Hello, Wadsworth. I'm Eleanor... It's nice to meet you."

"It is my pleasure, Madame. I am required to inform you of my abilities. I am capable of cleaning, providing clean water, styling hair, and telling jokes." It seemed to always be in a cheery mood. It was unsettling.

"Can you do my hair?"

"Why, yes, Madame. Just have a seat wherever you look."

This was the fist time I actually took notice of the decoration. There was a small kitchen, lockers on opposite sides of the room, a book shelf, and a stand of some sort. Everything was the same metal from the ramps and decks of Megaton, but with less wear and scuffing. It looks like no one has been in the house for a long time.

I sat on the floor and the robot revealed a screen. It had several hairstyles, most of which looked like it would just shave random spots and gel what was left of the hair. There was one in particular that caught my eye. It was a short, messy style, much like my childhood go-to hairstyle.

"That one." I pointed to the screen.

"Ah, yes. And what color?"

I never thought about dying my hair. I thought back to the girls in the comic books I used to read, other than Grognac. The girls all had cool super powers like flight, laser vision, or the ability to turn invisible. What had always stuck out to me was their hair color. My favorite super hero had always been one that wasn't very popular before the war. Her name was Barbarella, her hair a thick main of pink. I always wanted it. I needed a new look for my new beginning. Pink. Hell yes.

"I want pink. Can you do that?"

"Why, of course, Madame. Light or dark?"

"Definitely light." I couldn't stop smiling. I felt like a rebel.

"Interesting color." He displayed another screen with three bars: red, blue, and green. I adjusted them until I found the perfect shade of pastel pink. "I'll start right away."

I sat as still as possible as it worked. Last thing I need is a bad haircut. Every once in a while, it asked me to turn a certain way or look in a direction.

After about an hour, it had finished. "Now we just need to wait for your hair to dry, Madame."

"Alright." I looked around for anything to dry it faster. A towel or something. I noticed there was no bathroom. It's not very different from the vault. I think I remember passing the girl's bathroom on the way to Moriarty's. That seems pretty inconvenient.

I found an old gray shirt upstairs. It was probably left by the old owner. I dried my hair with the shirt as mush as I could. I shook my hair to get air flow. Anything to dry it faster. I have never been so excited for something so trivial as dry hair.

After about 5 minutes of shaking my head and rubbing the shirt through my hair, it was finally dry.

"Would you like a mirror, Madame?"

"Yes, please." I practically squealed when he pulled the mirror out of his main piece.

My hair was definitely pink. And short. It curled around my face. Blue eyes staring back. My skin was so pale compared to the wasteland inhabitants.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I was jumping with joy.

"You're very welcome, Madame!"

I have to show people my new hair. I wonder what Gob will think. I ran out the door, leaving it wide open. I could hear Wadsworth complaining about me growing up in a barn or something. I don't know what that's suppose to mean. I passed a leaking pipe and it sprayed the leg of my jumpsuit.

I should probably fix that. From the pipe, I could see the directions for the water processing plant. I could only assume that who ever is in charge could help. I jogged up the ramps, never having thought I'd get so much exercise from just living somewhere. I stopped in front of a door that had "water processing plant" sloppily chalked over it. I knocked on the door and after several moments, a grumpy old man opened it.

"Yeah, what is it?" His tattered blue jumpsuit sagged around his frail body, accentuating his deep wrinkles and frown.

"Oh, is this a bad time? I was just wondering if I might be able to help with the pipe."

He brightened at the mention of help. As quickly as it came, the small smile faded. He thought deeply and critically, examining me. I probably didn't look like much of a mechanic. He sighed heavily. "If you fix them, I'll pay you two hundred caps."

"Are there more than one?"

He paused for a few seconds, either remembering how many pipes busted or how stupid I am for only noticing the one by my house. "There's three, I think. Here's my tool box. You better take care of it. I need it back once you're done," he said as he handed me a heavy box. "Alright, you go fix those pipes."

I set off to fix the pipe that sprayed me earlier, and after that, I asked around to see if anyone knew where the others were. I fixed the second one with ease. The third one was going to be a hassle.

I walked up all the ramps to Moriarty's and peered over the railing.

There it was in all it's leaking glory. This was going to be more dangerous than fixing a pipe normally is. I jumped over the rails and hit a roof with a loud thud. People under me were looking at each other. A stranger just jumped on to a roof for a pipe.

I knelt down under the large plane engine hovering above me and examined the pipe. A mist of water sprayed my face. I reached for the toolbox and felt an empty spot. My hand felt around and I looked over. The toolbox was gone. Fixing the pipe was going to be the easy part, getting the tool box down to the roof from the deck because I left it like the idiot I am was going to be hard.

The deck rattled with footsteps. Someone was coming and they could throw the toolbox down for me. I yelled for their attention and a little head looked over the rails. It was a little girl with short black hair and large eyes.

I squinted as the sunlight burned my eyes. "Hey, kid. What's your name?"

"I'm Maggie," she answered nervously, as if she would bolt any minute. "I have to go, Billy said I'm not supposed to talk to strangers. He says I'm too friendly." She turned to leave but I was not about to let that happen without the toolbox.

"Hey, hey, Maggie. Before you leave, do you think you could drop the toolbox down for me? I left it up there."

She nodded, disappeared for a second, and reappeared. "Do you mean this toolbox?"

I nodded eagerly. "Yeah, that one!"

"Uh, okay. But I have to go as soon as I do." She dropped the box and I caught it with a groan.

"Thank you so much, Maggie. Bye"

"Bye, Lady."

"Wait..." I waited for her to poke her head back. "Call me Eleanor."

She looked surprised. "You mean, I can call you by just your first name?"

"Well, yeah. We're friends now, huh?"

"Yeah!" She skipped down the ramp to meet up with a man with an eye patch. He didn't look happy.

The man leaned over the railing and glared at me. I sat down and stared back at him. "Can I help you, sir?"

He nodded curtly. "Can you not talk to Maggie when I know she told you she can't talk to strangers."

I shrugged. "We aren't strangers anymore. And do you really think I would hurt a fly? I mean, look at me." I tugged on my vault suit.

The man, who I could only assume was Billy, sneered. "I've seen what those vault crazies can do. You aren't helping your case."

This man really wanted to hate for some reason. I shrugged. "Alright. We clearly got off on the wrong foot. My name is Eleanor."

He glared at me. "Billy."

I stuck my hand out as far as I could and he hesitantly shook it. "I really didn't mean anything by talking to her. I just forgot to get my toolbox before I jumped down here and she happened to be the first person to pass by."

Billy nodded. "Yeah, she's too friendly. I'm just trying to protect her. You may be new here, so I should warn you about the disgusting people out here who would literally kill to get to her."

That explained a lot. I could imagine predators and rapists come in the thousands here. "You're only doing your job as a protector, Billy."

He nodded sadly." Yeah, anyway, I have somewhere to be. I'll see you around."

"Alright," I smiled. "See you."

As he left, he looked over his shoulder at me for longer than what was necessary. I shrugged it off and got to working on the leak and in no time, all the pipes were fixed. Now I just need to find a way down.

Everything seemed so dangerous. I could jump down to the ramp below, but that would hurt. I could try climbing back up to the ramp I jumped off of, but how would I get the tool box up without throwing it and possibly damaging it or losing something?

I saw a gap that dropped down to a steep hill. I could try that. I grabbed the box and slipped one leg through the gap, dangling it to get an idea of how I would hit the ground. I rotated to the other side of the gap and slipped my other leg in. I hugged the box and and pushed off.

I hit the ground heels first and laid flat and slid down to the bottom. People were looking at me like an idiot. I walked over to the ramp and ran to the water processing plant. I knocked twice and Walter opened it, pleased to see me.

"Got them all?"

"Yes, sir," I nodded excitedly.

"Well, I'll be. You sure are something. Here's the caps I promised. But all you've done is delay the inevitable. Without those parts, the plant's gonna croak sooner or later. How about hearing an offer?"

I waited for him to continue.

"I'm always in need of some more scrap metal, how's about I give you ten caps for every piece you turn in."

"Sounds fair. I'll do it."

"Alrighty, you have a good day now, ya hear?"

I smiled brightly. "You too."