distantpagesandpapercuts:

the-perfect-scientist:

distantpagesandpapercuts:

There’s a small moment of confusion on her face before it is replaced with the same recognition. Kira smiles a bit, impressed that he remembered her at all.

Even if incorrectly, it was close enough.

“Kira, but yeah.” She nods happily, “It’s been awhile, I honestly didn’t expect to see you ever again!” A small giggle escapes her, “I’m afraid I cannot recall your name, I’m horrible with names. But I remember, from Concord right?”

Carlos was surprised when she’d noticed his praying, and
immediately he felt a little embarrassed. “I, uh… well… N-not practicing,” he
explained meekly. “But I do believe in a higher power. It’s… I mean, it’s
probably just something that was passed down from my pre-war ancestors, but…
y-you know…”

He hadn’t meant for her to see. He knew some people thought
it was a silly little pre-war thing – even people in the Vault thought that.

He then frowned at her, confused. “What do you mean you have
good relations with the supermutants?” he asked. “How… how do you even get into
that?”

Kira nods, perhaps a habit if anything. He didn’t seem too devout.

“I met a man who claims to be a priest is why I asked. I was curious to if you knew him or not is all. As he is the only other person out here I’ve met that has portrayed any sort of genuine religious habit. Nothing serious Carlos, I was merely curious.” She says, trying not to keep him too on edge. After all, he seemed a bit nervous all the time anyway.

“Any relation where supermutants won’t exactly kill you on sight is ‘good’ by my standards Carlos. But there is one in Trinity Tower who actually can be reasoned with. But… I honestly I wouldn’t try for it. The only reason I have this connection is because I fell into one of their traps and they brought me into the tower for cooking. Though…” Kira smiles, “I’m not meaty enough for eating and they kept me in a cage for a few days. I convinced one that was hurt to let me help. And I eventually got out. Sometimes I come by to treat an important one or two. Though it doesn’t happen often, supermutants aren’t sentimental. With them, if you die, it was because you were weak and needed culling. So… the only time I’m really sought out at all is in secret. As some value their life at least some.”

Carlos hummed softly, though he was still a bit shaken by
the question.

But as she talked about the Super Mutants he just frowned
even more, very confused and at least a bit fearful on her part. “I… I guess I’ll
take your word for it,” he said. “But, uh… you’re right – I’m not gonna go and
try for anything… like that with them. It’s a miracle you’re here to tell about
it, if… if you don’t mind me saying.” To think that there was a chance she
wouldn’t be here, offering him caps for books
of all things… Carlos would rather not think about it.

distantpagesandpapercuts:

the-perfect-scientist:

distantpagesandpapercuts:

There’s a small moment of confusion on her face before it is replaced with the same recognition. Kira smiles a bit, impressed that he remembered her at all.

Even if incorrectly, it was close enough.

“Kira, but yeah.” She nods happily, “It’s been awhile, I honestly didn’t expect to see you ever again!” A small giggle escapes her, “I’m afraid I cannot recall your name, I’m horrible with names. But I remember, from Concord right?”

“With the value put on other salvage out here – which is usually just purely material, by the way – it is very generous,” Carlos pointed out. “It’s just… usually nobody considers what effort I go through looking for salvage.” Like the time he’d found a bunch of telephones, but was unable to disassemble them on the spot. There were Gunners in the area and he’d locked himself in a Pulowski Preservation Shelter for a couple hours while he waited.

Carlos smelled the coffee he had, just to see if it was anything like he remembered with the sugar and milk in it. Oh yeah… it smelled so much more like he was used to. He said a quiet prayer of thanks to God before taking a small sip. He couldn’t help the small happy groan he made.

“Mm… God, that’s good,” he murmured. “Um… Thank you. So much for this.”

“I don’t salvage much myself since I’m not exactly cut out for that kind of work, but I have paid others to do it for me. And I know a few who do it as their way of making money at all. So I’m at least slightly familiar with it. Besides, you don’t have to be a scavenger to know just how difficult it is to pass Trinity Tower to get here. I have a good relationships with the supermutants there myself and I still sometimes get shot at.” Kira shrugs hopelessly, some of them had the same eyesight as her.

He seemed to smell his coffee before adding what he liked to it. All the while, Kira sipped at her tea and watched him carefully. He seemed fairly pleased with it in the very least. And though Kira’s sight was shit, she heard the quiet prayer and looked a bit surprised.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man pray out here… You are religious Carlos?” She asks curiously before merely nodding to his thanks.

“It’s no trouble. I invited you in after all.”

Carlos was surprised when she’d noticed his praying, and
immediately he felt a little embarrassed. “I, uh… well… N-not practicing,” he
explained meekly. “But I do believe in a higher power. It’s… I mean, it’s
probably just something that was passed down from my pre-war ancestors, but…
y-you know…”

He hadn’t meant for her to see. He knew some people thought
it was a silly little pre-war thing – even people in the Vault thought that.

He then frowned at her, confused. “What do you mean you have
good relations with the supermutants?” he asked. “How… how do you even get into
that?”

distantpagesandpapercuts:

the-perfect-scientist:

distantpagesandpapercuts:

There’s a small moment of confusion on her face before it is replaced with the same recognition. Kira smiles a bit, impressed that he remembered her at all.

Even if incorrectly, it was close enough.

“Kira, but yeah.” She nods happily, “It’s been awhile, I honestly didn’t expect to see you ever again!” A small giggle escapes her, “I’m afraid I cannot recall your name, I’m horrible with names. But I remember, from Concord right?”

Carlos just watched and listened to her.
He tried to be discrete with how much sugar he put in his coffee – he really liked sugar, but he didn’t want
to seem like some kind of pig with it. He realized he probably should cut back
anyway – it wasn’t exactly easy for him to get dental care anymore.

However, Carlos found himself shocked by Kira’s offer. Twenty
caps? That was two nights at the Dugout Inn, or a noodle bowl from that
malfunctioning robot in the market. If Carlos were to bring even a couple of
those books, along with his usual salvage he could take a load off and spend a
few days in Diamond City. He might not… but he could! And if he found a pre-war book tucked away in a suitcase or
something? It’d be even better!

“I… uh, are you sure? That’s – er, I mean, that’s pretty
generous of you,” he told her truthfully. He might be shooting himself in the
foot asking that, but he’d rather there not be a falling out or anything later
if she regretted the price.

Kira took no notice of how much of anything he used. And even if she had, she’d say nothing about it. After all, if she didn’t want him to use it, she wouldn’t have offered.

“Yes. I understand that may sound a bit generous and perhaps easy. However, I will tell you that I’m likely not paying that much for the books themselves. More like I’m paying you for your effort. Finding a damaged book that’s suitable for my work would take time. You will come across a great many books that cannot even hope to qualify for what I seek. You will have to examine them and make sure they’re in decent shape. That, and I’m sure getting here with all the supermutants isn’t easy. It’s likely that you will have your work cut out for you.” She nods seriously, taking another sip of her tea.

“If you have the patience for it, it may prove fairly beneficial to you.”

“With the value put on other salvage out here – which is usually just purely material, by the way – it is very generous,” Carlos pointed out. “It’s just… usually nobody considers what effort I go through looking for salvage.” Like the time he’d found a bunch of telephones, but was unable to disassemble them on the spot. There were Gunners in the area and he’d locked himself in a Pulowski Preservation Shelter for a couple hours while he waited.

Carlos smelled the coffee he had, just to see if it was anything like he remembered with the sugar and milk in it. Oh yeah… it smelled so much more like he was used to. He said a quiet prayer of thanks to God before taking a small sip. He couldn’t help the small happy groan he made.

“Mm… God, that’s good,” he murmured. “Um… Thank you. So much for this.”

distantpagesandpapercuts:

the-perfect-scientist:

distantpagesandpapercuts:

There’s a small moment of confusion on her face before it is replaced with the same recognition. Kira smiles a bit, impressed that he remembered her at all.

Even if incorrectly, it was close enough.

“Kira, but yeah.” She nods happily, “It’s been awhile, I honestly didn’t expect to see you ever again!” A small giggle escapes her, “I’m afraid I cannot recall your name, I’m horrible with names. But I remember, from Concord right?”

Carlos hesitated a bit at the doorway, but he clenched his fist and stepped inside.He would have preferred to stay outside, though he wasn’t sure why. God, the Wasteland had not been good for his nerves at all.

He stopped awkwardly a bit inside from the door and looked around. He wondered what would be a good place to sit before deciding on a chair closest to him. He walked around to the front and gingerly sat down, still looking around.

“I haven’t been inside of a place that was actually… um, lived in in a while,” he commented. “It… it looks very nice.”

He seemed nervous to be inside, though she wondered why that was. Kira herself was brought up in a bunker so too terribly open spaces made her a bit nervous. Was he claustrophobic or something?

The ‘doctor’ closed the door behind them but opened one of the curtains on the window right next to the door. Perhaps he’d feel better knowing that he could still see outside and that people could see him inside? That he was… ‘ok’? Was he afraid of her or something?

As the scavenger took a seat, Kira glided her way across the floor to the small kitchenette where she took down a dented metal kettle. Now filling it with bottled water and setting it on the hot plate on the counter.

“Thank you, I didn’t do it myself trust me.” Kira smiles, “Most of this stuff is donated, or Doctor Sun’s, etcetera etcetera. All the books lying around in such a mess are mine though. That’s how you know I live here.” Kira giggles warmly before pointing to the kettle.

“Tea?”

“Huh? Oh, um… no thanks. I don’t… really like tea,” Carlos said awkwardly. “But, uh, thank you.”

Carlos glanced out the window, glad to have the little bit of openness to the room. It did make him feel better, and he started to look around again, focusing now on some of the books. Some looked very decently intact – probably still readable for the most part. That was very nice… at least some people still appreciated books. If he’d ever had the opportunity or time, he’d have loved to sit down and pour over pre-war mechanical and science books.

“It’s, uh… very nice to see that people still use books for their intended purpose, rather than just kindling,” he told her truthfully with a very slight smile. “They’re lucky they ended up here.”

distantpagesandpapercuts:

the-perfect-scientist:

distantpagesandpapercuts:

There’s a small moment of confusion on her face before it is replaced with the same recognition. Kira smiles a bit, impressed that he remembered her at all.

Even if incorrectly, it was close enough.

“Kira, but yeah.” She nods happily, “It’s been awhile, I honestly didn’t expect to see you ever again!” A small giggle escapes her, “I’m afraid I cannot recall your name, I’m horrible with names. But I remember, from Concord right?”

Carlos looked after her, but he nodded and zipped his bag up again before following her. “A- um, alright!” he said.

This was good – at least the salvage he had could go to what they were meant to be used for. It hurt a little bit, selling the salvage when it just was going to be melted or pounded down to raw materials. But this way, specialized pre-war design would continue to be used and maybe he’d get a few more caps out of it as well.

He felt alright going with her. Most of the shops were open-air, and considering they were in a city he thought that he’d be safe enough. “So, uh… what sort of things do you do here? Like, I mean… what’s your job like?” Carlos was a bit curious, but he mostly wanted to just start some kind of conversation.

Kira smiled as he followed, luckily Diamond City wasn’t all that big. Her office was actually already within sight. Her stroll was a bit slow, letting him follow and take a look around if he wanted.

What kind of tea did she have at home anyway?

Thinking it over, she didn’t even hear him as her a question till she caught the end of it.

“Eh?” She questioned, pushing her glasses up, but she had a general idea what he was asking.

“Ohh, I help run the clinic. Right over there.” Kira points to the split clinic, half inside and half out. Sun was tending to his chem table, seemingly busy with his work. “With Doctor Sun, the man you see tinkering.” She smiles to the other, “Sun treats the humans, I specialize in ghouls, synthetics, and supermutants from time to time. But alot of what I do here in town is merely manufacture chems and help Sun with his work when he needs it. Such as buying from people like you and refurbishing the materials to be used later.” She nods definitively, waving to Doctor Sun who didn’t notice her before opening the door to her personal office.

The room she opened the door to had her desk, a few bookshelves, a seating area, a small kitchenette, and a few small tables littered with old magazines and books.

“Feel free to sit wherever you like.”

Carlos hesitated a bit at the doorway, but he clenched his fist and stepped inside.He would have preferred to stay outside, though he wasn’t sure why. God, the Wasteland had not been good for his nerves at all.

He stopped awkwardly a bit inside from the door and looked around. He wondered what would be a good place to sit before deciding on a chair closest to him. He walked around to the front and gingerly sat down, still looking around.

“I haven’t been inside of a place that was actually… um, lived in in a while,” he commented. “It… it looks very nice.”