The sun had already set by the time the group reached Primm, being around close to half past eight according to Six's wrist watch, something she always wore despite her pipboy's built-in clock. The Courier had to say though, she was impressed. Primm had had a complete makeover in the last 3 months since her last visit to the town, it wasn't brimming with life, sure (mostly because it was already dark), but it actually seemed like a settlement people lived in, with some still out and about. The neon lights of the Bison Steve Hotel and Vikki & Vance Casino shun brightly, basically single handedly illuminating the whole road.

Much to Six's delight the casino was still open, which meant the bar also was, and HOT DAMN did she need a drink. Damnation would befall her though, as before she could even take a single step towards the source of her soon to be beloved alcohol, a hand holding her by the back of her collar kept her from moving. "Six, you come with me. I'm doing a check up on you." Rotson said.

"But-"

"No buts." He interrupted. "You were shot multiple times. Don't care if you used stims, you still need to have an actual doctor see you. And as luck would have you, I'm probably the last licensed surgeon left in this God-forsaken rock. Besides–" His stare hardened. "–we need to talk." It didn't take a genius to figure out what Rotson meant by that.

Six sighed internally before she reluctantly nodded. "I assume you got a clinic or somethin' here?" The pre-war ghoul nodded. "Alright then." She turned to Betty. "Can you please take Ruby to the casino and get her something to eat? She's probably hungry." Speaking of her, Six noticed Ruby wasn't standing close to either of them, though her eyes quickly found her a couple dozen feet away, staring in awe at the night sky. She hadn't talked at all since the shootout at the station.

Six was…concerned about the kid. Not because she cared about the pest, but because of what the last fight could do to her mental state, and a fragile mind on the road is a recipe for disaster. Still, Six couldn't stop herself from feeling the tiniest bit of empathy for Ruby. Killing people sucks. Six never liked doing so, sure she's not bothered by it (that's what decades of traveling the wasteland does to you), but to kill someone at such a young age? That's…not pretty. The snapping of fingers brought Six from her thoughts, making her focus once more on the doctor.

"You good Six?" The doctor asked with a slight glint of concern in his eyes. Must be that doctor's instinct she heard Usanagi talk about. "You went really quiet there for a sec…Okay, quieter than you were the whole trip."

"Y-Yeah. I'm good. Let's get this shit over with already." Six motioned him to lead the way with her following close behind, leaving Betty and Ruby to go to the Vikki & Vance. Six did glance a final time towards the two and noticed Betty was keeping herself at a slight distance from the kid.

Rotson's clinic was a decent enough place. Not sterilized head to toe like the mojave clinic run by Usanagi but it was still leagues better than the many dirty doctor's offices she'd seen across Nevada, having all the essentials and tools that a doctor would generally need in the wasteland. Of course given that Rotson was a traveling doctor, the clinic didn't have much in the way of decor which, in all honesty, Six didn't really care. She followed the doctor to an adjacent room where there was an examination table along with all the other classic doctor's office equipment. "I want you to take off your armor and sit on the table." She said, grabbing a clipboard.

"I'm good doc. Really. Worse case scenario, I use 'nother stim and sleep it off." The doctor did respond, only taking his eyes off the clipboard and giving Six a 'Do what I'm fucking telling you to do' look. Six groaned, but complied. She took off the upper portion of her riot gear, reducing her attire to only what was below the waist and leaving her upper body completely exposed safe for the tank top she wore under the undershirt and armor. The fight hadn't left her body in that bad of a shape, she only got hit like…3 times, minus the sledgehammer to the chest, but she could sleep it off.

The good doctor did a quick inspection of the Courier's recently acquired wounds. "There's still a bullet lodged in. I'll need to take it out." Six let out a disgruntled groan. Just fuckin' amazing. Most of the time, after using stimpacks the rapidly healing muscles would push the bullets or shrapnel out of her body, but of course there were those few times where they were lodged in just right, so the muscles couldn't heal properly. Welp, at least that explained her pain. Rotson reached for a drawer that, upon closer inspection from Six, was his utensils drawer. Scissors, scalpels, forceps, clamps, you name it he had it there. He carefully began setting and displaying on a little aluminum tray that sat on top of a cart. "Before we start–" he said, reaching for a box of disposable gloves. "–want anything for the pain?"

"Duster, left inner pocket." The doctor raised an eyebrow but did not comment, only doing as Six had instructed him. Digging his hand into said pocket he produced a (of course) a whiskey scented flask, which he passed to the Courier.

"One day you're gonna die from liver failure." He sighed as Six took a big swig from her flask.

"We all die someday doc." She put the flask down and laid down on the table. "Whenever you're ready."

The bicentennial ghoul rolled his eyes, but nevertheless moved to operate on the growing legend of the Mojave Wasteland.

The sound of a plate hitting the counter of the bar snapped Ruby from her thoughts. "There you go sweetie. A plate of my good 'ol radscorpion casserole ought to lift your spirits." Oh right, Betty went with her to this casino place and ordered some food for her before walking off somewhere. Ruby looked at the person behind the bar counter, it was an older woman with dark skin and mostly gray hair with strands of black here and there. Though what standed out to the huntress-in-training the most was the woman's soft friendly smile. Huh Ruby could swear this was the first genuine smile she'd seen since getting here…Naaaaahhh she's probably just imagining things. Besides…smiles are the least of her worries.

"T-Thanks miss?"

"Nash. But that's my husband's name. You just call me Ruby." Mrs. Nash said, pouring a drink of something to herself. Didn't smell like alcohol though which was nice.

"O-Oh, I'm also named Ruby…" She responded quietly.

"Oh that's lovely. Well, nice to meet you Ruby." She gave a weak awkward smile at the older woman. Ruby was not good at small talk. She actually dreaded it and actively avoided it. People were hard and complex and…mean. That is why she preferred guns. They were much simpler and straightforward, no lies, no weird things. And if they broke, Ruby could just fix it and it'd be all great again! People were something she couldn't fix…"What's bothering you Ruby?" Mrs. Nash looked at her with concern in her eyes.

"Nothing." She said almost immediately. "I'm just tired. "

"Now, I may be getting older, but I'm not getting any stupider. Plus, I still have a good pair of eyes that can see when someone's sad." Mrs. Nash sat down behind the counter, putting her drink aside.

Ruby sighed. What the heck, sure why not? Worst case scenario, she'd just be blown off like some of the teachers at Signal did. "Did you ever do something that you always used to do but one day everything you thought you knew about said thing just…change?"

"Hmmm." Mrs. Nash rubbed her chin. "I think I know what you mean. You were used to something being a thing a certain way but you found out it doesn't work that way and it makes you sad. Is that it?"

Ruby shrugged. "Something like it, yeah"

"Well, as much as it might not help, that's life. You discover things that you don't enjoy. The world is a cruel place, Ruby and we learn to live with it."

"But–But what if that thing you did was wrong? How do you, y'know fix it?"

"You don't." Ruby's face fell. "Okay that isn't exactly right. It's more of, you can't undo past mistakes, everybody makes 'em, that is what life is about. Living and learning. If you regret what you did, then you can strive to be better next time." Mrs. Nash leaned back with a smile. "I'm sorry if I wasn't all that helpful."

"No. I–...I think it helped." Ruby wasn't exactly sure if Mrs. Nash's words had helped her with her current dilemma, but then again she hadn't exactly given her much information to go off of. However, there were some good truths behind her words. Ruby did regret killing that person, it was killing her inside and she didn't want to do it ever again. So, in a way, it's like Mrs. Nash said, live and learn. Next time she'll be more careful, she'll use the blunt part of Crescent Rose instead of the blade, she'll be more careful with her shot to not hit vital parts, she'll…she'll do better! She'll be a proper huntress just like her super-mom was!

Reinvigorated by Mrs. Nash's words and her own thoughts, Ruby's expression lightened up, shooting a toothy smile at Mrs. Nash and properly thanking her for the food before digging into this 'radscorpion' casserole. She took a bite from it and her eyes sparkled. "This is delicious Mrs. Nash!"

"Thank you Ruby. I'm glad you liked it." Mrs. Nash took a sip of her drink.

It took about an hour or so to remove all bits, yes plural, of lead from Six's gunshot wound on her shoulder. It hurt like a bitch but it could've been hurting a lot more if not for the blessed alcohol. She hopped out of the examination table to start putting back on her clothes and armor, putting her black undershirt first before sliding in all the bits and pieces of her old reliable riot custom riot gear. Rotson meanwhile, was washing his hands and tools of all the blood from the recent operation in a large bowl of water that sat inside the sink. A deafening silence had befallen the room, with the only sources of noise being the buzzing of the lights above, the rustling of Six's clothes and the water of the bowl. "Soooooo doc, no lollipop for good behavior?" Six attempted to break the silence which elicited no response from Rotson, with him moving on to drying up. Great. "Okay if this is everything, Imma go get a drink at the Vikki & Vance."

"We are not done Six." He said coldly before she could even take a single step. "I have questions."

"Fan-fucking-tastic" She thought, pintching the bridge of her nose. "Fine. Whaddya wanna know?" She carefully leaned on the closest wall so as to not hurt her bangaged area.

"You know full well what I want to know Six. Who the fuck is that kid?" The doctor glared at her.

"Well I'm pretty sure she told you that herself. She's Ruby Ro-"

"Don't bullshit me Six!" The ghoul growled "You know what I mean. What the hell is she? People don't turn into a red mist and fucking fly! Nor do they use oversized scythes that transform, or wear some stupid fucking outfit like the one she does!"

Six knew the ghoul before her was starting to lose it. She couldn't exactly blame the man. He was scared and confused of the unknown, top that with 200 years of a shitty life and you become very on edge. She had to choose her words carefully and she didn't want to harm the man. "What do you want me to tell you man?" She shrugged. "She's a sheltered kid that knows jackshit about the world around her."

"Oh come on, that much is obvious!" He flailed his arms around, before abruptly stopping and rubbing his temples with a sigh. "Okay fine, lets assume, for as it's complete bullshit, that the reason she uses a giant fuck off scythe and wears a dam goth dress is simply because she's 'sheltered'. That still doesn't explain her flying Six."

Six reached for her flask and took another gulp from it, using the silence between the two to think up a quick lie on the spot. "I dunno, it could be a mutation. You know what some shit became after it mutated."

"Six, a doctor that has been studying every known field of medicine for the past two-hundred years, not counting my over twenty years of being a surgeon before the bombs fell. I know what radiation does to people, THAT–" He points to the exit. "–is not one of them. Sorry to burst your bubble, but this ain't fantasy land. You don't get bit by a radioactive spider and become a superhero."

"Rotson, why do you even think I have the answers?" Six spoke in an apathetic neutral tone. "It was also my first time seeing her fly. I've only known the kid for two days. So take a chill pill, and calm the fuck down." Rotson grunted but complied, taking a step back. "You're scared of something you know nothing about, I get it. But that doesn't mean you can go ballistic and not use your head. Just be grateful she was on your side and not the other way around." Six put on her helmet and headed towards the door, passing by Rotson who appeared to be mulling her words. With a twist of the knob, the door to the street opened, but Six gave a final glance at the ghoul doctor. "I think it goes without saying not to address her about this. She just went through a lot and needs to figure her shit out." The only confirmation she got was a weak nod from Rotson, but it was enough for Six.

She stepped out and headed to the casino, but something else drew her attention.

Ruby decided to go for a walk after finishing eating her very delicious casserole. She didn't exactly used to live in the pinnacle of civilization, in fact, her home in Patch was still a ways out of the main city where Signal was located. Still, she'd witnessed first hand the sounds and smells of a city at night. Here there was nothing of the sort, only the quiet chirping of crickets and the rustling of the wind gave sound to this broken place. It honestly unnerved the teen. Not just the lack of noise, but the obvious signs of destruction. Houses destroyed and burnt to the ground, the decrepit roller coaster around that big place, the destroyed roads, everything. It was all just, so different.

She entered the big building place, Betty said it used to be a hotel of some sort, and wandered the halls. Ruby grimaced at the sight of many dried blood pools and splatters on the walls and floors, a violent indicator that a fight had once occurred there. She at least found solace in the fact there were no bodies and hoped they'd been buried. This world had so much death, so much negativity, it was amazing how it hadn't been ravaged by Grimm…Oh, right…Grimm don't exist here. It's kind of funny how it hadn't really set in that she's in a new world, everything had been just so hectic that she hadn't had the time to just stop and think about it. She was alone. Not physically alone, after all she was traveling with people, but she had no one to talk to about this. The only person that knew her situation was Six, and wanted to get rid of her! That was the whole point of this. Get to that Vegas place so she could be dumped with other people.

Ruby noticed she was back outside, standing on the roof of the hotel. She'd been so deep inside her own head that she didn't think about where she was actually going. She sat on the edge of the roof and was able to see the whole town, illuminated by the flickering lights of the light posts and fires on barrels. Past the bridge, she was able to see a small camp and a post waving a now familiar flag, the NCR's flag. She thought back to what little Six had said about them in the outpost, on how there's no good guys here…That's had to be wrong, right? There has to be good guys and heroes like the huntsmen in Remnant. There's always good people!

The familiar metal click of a pistol hammer being pulled back snapped Ruby from her thoughts, but before she could react, she felt a cold metal cylinder meet the back of her head. Though as quickly as it came, the feeling was now gone. "You need to train your perception." A familiar voice rang out behind her. "If you're not aware of your surroundings you'll be easier to ambush." Six said, sitting next to her on the building's ledge.

"I'm sorry…" Ruby quietly apologized.

"Don't be sorry, be better." She flinched at Six's words. They were always so cold and monotone. Since they'd met, Six had only ever been annoyed, angry or completely neutral with her. Silence befell the two, with both staring off into the settlement below. Pretty much everyone had gone to their homes by this point minus a few drunk settlers wobbling around. "What you did was incredibly stupid." Six finally broke the silence, earning a wince from Ruby. "You jumped in head first into battle without a plan and right towards enemy fire. Not to mention you showing whatever my flying thing was."

"Y-You mean my semblance?" Ruby was all but whispering now.

"What the hell is a semblance?"

"A semblance. Like aura, t-the manifestation of our souls." Why didn't Six know what a semblance was? And her silence now only showed she also didn't know what aura was. This didn't make any sense! All humans have–...Then it clicked. They didn't have it here. That's why he–No, don't think about it. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about.

"Ruby." Six's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "You're tensing up. Calm down."

"S-Sorry…"

Six broke her gaze with her and sighed before taking off her helmet and laying it next to her. Ruby saw that scared face once again, each one telling a different story, much like her dead golden eyes. Ruby wasn't good at reading people, but she didn't have to to know that Six had seen some things. But most of all, Ruby saw the circles below her eyes. "She must be tired." Ruby thought to herself. Six reached for one of her many pouches and produced what Ruby knew to be a pack of cigarettes and a lighter with a ace of spades and a skull sketched on it. Six put a crumpled cigarette between her lips and flicked the lid of the lighter open, before lighting the cigarette up. She took a long drag before exhaling the smoke. Ruby hated cigarettes and the act of smoking. She didn't understand why people would willingly subject themselves to something that actively harmed and killed them, but refrained from saying anything out loud. It would probably fall on deaf ears anyway.

"Ruby–" Six rubbed her temples "–life here is hard. And I don't know how it was on Remnant, I'm sure that your world also has its own problems and crises and I don't want to downplay them. But here…things don't work that way. I don't know what semblances or what auras are, but I can pretty safely say, we don't have those here. Everyday is a matter of life and death for many folk out here, so we do things that we don't like to keep ourselves alive."

"Then why don't we help them? I-I-I mean, some people are naturally stronger than others right? Why don't they help them?" Nothing made sense to Ruby, the world couldn't be just bad things!

Six took another drag of her cigarette. "It isn't that simple. Many people who are stronger take from others, or end up becoming mercenaries and selling their services to the highest bidder. Some have codes of honor, sure, but at the end of the day, they're still mercs that help others because of money."

Ruby stared in disbelief. That couldn't be just it. "So there's no one that helps people just because it's the right thing?"

Six who was halfway through taking another drag, stopped. "Well, there are some. But they're few and sporadic. More often than not, they wind up dead sooner or later." Ruby mood soured even more. "...however…There were these people once, that did just that."

"Who were they?"

"They were called the Desert Rangers. Originally, they came from survivalists, preppers and US army remnants that survived the war. They kept the peace when no one else would, they'd go to towns and help people because it was the right thing to do and expected nothing but a thank you in return. They were these elite warriors of the wastes that could fight off whole squads at once and they were feared by the slavers and raiders of the desert. They used to operate all from Texas up to Oregon, fighting for what was right. They had a centralized leadership, yeah, but more often than not a ranger would go alone and do their own thing, especially the further you got from Nevada." Call Ruby crazy, but she felt like there was a sweetness as to how Six talked about the Rangers. But for the life of her she couldn't figure out why.

"What happened to them?"

Six frowned. "The Legion and NCR happened. The rangers thought they could beat back the Legion from growing too much back in Arizona, they ended up sending as many rangers as they could that way…they failed. Despite their superior training, better gear and tactics, the Legion just had more soldiers. Then, the NCR came to them with an offer. 'Be incorporated and we'll protect Nevada.' The rangers didn't have much of a choice other than accept. It would take them decades to build back what they'd lost against the Legion. So they took the offer."

"Is that what those statues in the Outpost were about?"

"Yeah. Waste of metal in my opinion."

Both fell quiet again, staring off into the vast night nothingness of the night. Ruby though, despite the somber tale she'd just been told, was somewhat relieved. There were people that wanted to do good for the sake of being good. Just like the huntsmen from back home. She-She could be like them! She could go around and save people from bad guys!

What about home? What about Dad, Yang and Uncle Qrow?

Ruby halted her excited train of thought. Would she ever go home? Was she destined to be stuck here forever? She could drive herself crazy from all these questions!...Maybe it was better to not think about it. Just, take one step at a time. "Hey hum, Six?"

"Hmm?" She hummed, not making eye contact with the teen.

"Could you train me? A-At least until we get to Vegas. I–...I want to be like those rangers you talked about, I want to protect people and do good. B-But I can't do it without knowing stuff about the world. So, could you please teach me?" Ruby did the best puppy eyes she could, hoping it would help sway Six, who in turn didn't respond.

After a minute of silence, the Courier spoke up. "Okay. I'll help you."

"REALLY?!" Ruby stood up in a flash with her eyes sparkling like the stars above and with more enthusiasm than a child who was just given candy.

"UNTIL, we get to Vegas."

"Deal!" Ruby extended her hand for a handshake, which Six hesitantly took.

"Just don't make me regret this."

"I promise!"

"Riiiiight…" Six rolled her eyes "The rooms downstairs don't belong to anyone so, you can choose one and sleep there. The beds are probably dirty as shit, but they're beds."

"Okay!" Ruby excitedly walked off in search of a room to sleep in, leaving Courier 6 alone on the roof, looking at the moon.

Six and Ruby were all but ready to head out, the mailwoman was just waiting for Ruby to finish having breakfast inside the Vikki & Vance while she smoked a cigarette outside before hitting the road. She was halfway through her cig before she saw the familiar face of a certain ghoul doctor walk up to her. "Howdy."

"H-Hey…I uhhh…Just wanted to apologize for freaking out yesterday." The ghoul rubbed the back of his head, not making eye contact with Six.

"It's fine. You were on edge, it's normal to freak out." She shrugged.

"Heh" He chuckled. "It's weird to find out new things after two-hundred years…Anyhow, I uh also wanted to thank you. If you weren't there when the ambush hit us, we might've not made it. So, have this." He extended a pouch of caps to Six.

Six stared at the pouch caps for a second, but shook her head. "Keep 'em."

"Wha-Why?" Rotson seemed taken aback by Six's choice.

"You technically didn't hire me. We just tagged along. So I have no right to take those caps." She took a drag from the cig. "Simple as that."

A smile grew on Rotson's face as he stored back the caps on his satchel. "Thank you. See you around Six."

Six saw as the ghoul walked off, presumably back to his clinic. A couple minutes went by and Six was not back with her helmet on waiting for Ruby when the double doors of the casino swung open, with a now fully prepared Ruby ready to hit the road. "Ready to hit the road and kick some butt Six?" She asked excitedly.

A small smirk crept its way on Six's lips but quickly disappeared. "Let's go." The duo walked side by side, exiting Primm as they ventured back into the unforgiving Mojave Wasteland.

Next stop, Goodsprings.

Quest Completed: Way down the I-15

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND THAT'S IT! Fuck that took a while. I was some reaaaaaal writer's block on this one. Mostly on how to handle Rotson's reaction to Ruby's semblance. Sometimes it truly is best to just leave some things unanswered. As we draw ever closer to the end of the first arc and I just wanted to say, thank you all for the support. It really brightens my day when I see you commenting and speculating on what will happen down the road.

Also, I done goofed up. I was looking up FNV's in game year and noticed it was 2281, not 2285. Internally screams. But all is well now.

Anyhow, until next week (if my digital systems exam doesn't kill me)!