Before a small, borrowed campfire nestled beside an abandoned rest stop, Arcade sucks in a breath between his teeth, slapping the Courier's prodding finger away from the back of his neck. "That hurts, a lot."
The young lady rubs her punished hand, frowning slightly. "Are you sure you're not turning into a ghoul?"
"Trust me, I'd know if I were." He rummages through his inventory satchel, grumbling about a jar.
"But it's peeling." Unable to control herself, she goes for one more poke.
"Do it again, and I'll amputate your hand," he threatens in an even tone, not looking up from his bag.
Her finger quickly retracts.
The researcher sighs, wondering why he's following this childish woman in the first place, and where he put his jar of aloe rub he made this morning.
The Courier hears an ugly rumbling from the bottom of her stomach and decides now is as good a time as any to eat. Indecisive about what to snack on, she lets Rex root his nose around her pack.
He pulls out a mysterious cylindrical jar filled with an off-green jelly-like substance. The dog sits at attention as his new master taste-tests the contents.
Coming to the conclusion his ointment isn't in his bag, he asks the young woman seated to his right if it's in hers. "Hey!" He rips the half-emptied jar from her hands.
"Well sheesh!" The Courier licks her fingers clean, irritated by his bad manners. "If you wanted some, all you had to do was ask!"
Rex whines, wanting more mysterious green jelly.
"This is to treat sunburn," Arcade says, waving the small container in her direction. "Not your appetite."
The cyber dog barks a few times, pawing at her leg.
"Rex says you should make more. It's tasty."
He quietly laments over the futility of arguing with the completely oblivious leader of their motley crew. "Somebody shoot me."
From the darkness, someone slides the bolt on a large sounding gun. "The Kaisar has marked you for death, and the Legion obeys." The assassin in feathered headdress and face coverall levels his varmint rifle at the trio. "Ready yourself for battle."
"You're kidding me," the medic huffs.