Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

In the Mojave [Lady Grimoire x rskde]

When she growls in response to his threat he just laughs. "I like a challenge." He winks before adjusting where his back was positioned on his backpack, he had seen her eyes flick to her revolver and was pretty happy that she didn't actually go for it, what she hadn't considered was how close his rifle was to him, sitting directly next to him he would've been able to pick it up and get it aimed by the time she was done getting it from the pile and out of its holster. Just in case he lays his rifle down in his lap, fingers gently clicking against the metal of his weapon, not to threaten her, just to keep himself safe. He knew that she had to be hungry, especially if she was considering robbing him as an alternative, she was desperate for food.. And he hated taking advantage of people.

His eyes watch her take back her things from the pile that had formed, he slips his shirt back on before biting the inside of his cheek.. What did he want in return? She had offered her body to him earlier, though he assumed that was so that she could kill him when he was least expecting it, and he felt like asking her for sex might be not only low but just a terrible idea, as they barely knew each other and would be traveling together.. So he decided not to fuck up his reputation with her, she already didn't seem to like him and he wanted to change that.

Ryan couldn't help but laugh quietly when she saw what his hand had been, she didn't seem to believe him when he said that his hand was garbage but after seeing not even a pair and realizing that she could've won, she was probably having more than a few regrets. "Thank you." He smiles when she admitted that he had a good poker face, it was definitely something that he had been working on over the years, he didn't really seem like the type of guy to gamble, but it was obvious that when he did gamble he excelled at it.

"I'll give you a full ration pack for two things." He says. "As in, enough food to sustain somebody like me for a day." He clarifies, not knowing if she understood what an NCR ration pack was. "I want to get to know you, tell me how you ended up in Nipton, why you seem to hate me for just being NCR." Ryan says while looking at her from across the cave, a serious expression on his face. "And I want a clean slate, like I said if we're going to be travelling together we can't be hating each other and not trusting one another." He says to her, he could've asked for anything but it seemed he was genuinely interested in burying the hatchet.
 
As Ryan put back on his clothes, Ashley did too somewhat--she pulled on the undershirt for her armour at least, but left the protective bits off to the side for the time being. She doubted it would be much use at this stage against rifle rounds at point-blank range anyway. She shifted so she was sitting with her legs together, stretched out in front of her while reclined backward, braced up on her hands. Still casting the occasional bitter look toward the cards, then Ryan, as she awaited her answer.

The offer made Ashley's face soften some. Not much, she was still irritated, but she shifted to look... slightly less irritated. Grinding her teeth together, she mulled over what he wanted. "I came down this way after running into some trouble up north. On the way, heard this place got torched. Figured there wouldn't be anyone here, seemed like a good place to lay low." She shrugged. "Knew the Legion torched it. Didn't think they would come back, never heard of that before."

Pursing her lips, she leaned over and reached out with a hand. "One thing. Now give me the food and I'll give you the second half. Fresh slate, right? So no holding me trying to rob you against me." In part, Ashley wanted to stall. The second question was a touch harder to answer. 'Because I bet you'd turn me in the moment you knew I was wanted' seemed like a bad answer. That was... unless she phrased it somewhat differently.

Either way--being handed the food or not--she'd answer. Though she clearly wouldn't be too pleased about not getting the food, clear sign of her lack of trust. "Because the NCR fucked me." She chuckled, and threw her hands up. "Oh, hey, look, and you did too. I had a good thing going there. Until you rolled in, pulled the Legion down on me, and forced me to get the hell out of Nipton. With you." She had a feeling that might not be a sufficient answer, it was pretty vague.

However, she still did answer. If he hadn't yet handed over the food, she'd present her hand again and look on expectantly, however, if he had, she would immediately tear open the pack and ravenously start gobbling it up--more like an animal than a lady.
 
Ryan watched her put her shirt on. "Awh c'mon, I was enjoying the view." He joked, now knowing that she had used her own body to attempt to distract him from seeing her sneaky move to take extra cards into her hand, but it was still a good joke in his opinion. He reaches up and rubs his eyes, he was starting to get a little tired as the night wore on, he felt like they would've been better off if they had just not played this game.. Though if she accepted his offer they would hopefully be on better terms after their night together in the cave.

He smiles when she starts telling him a little more about herself, it wasn't much but it was definitely a start. He chuckles quietly when she mentioned having never heard of the Legion patrolling through Nipton. "Well, we got reports that the Legion liked to go by their salted earth policy, make sure nobody ever occupies Nipton again." He explains to her. "Which is why we thought that you were either a suicidal raider or a Legion sniper when you took shots at us."

Taking his ration pack from his bag, he slips it into her hand. "Next thing." He says before listening to the answer to his second question. "Fresh slate, I won't hold you to it." He says while leaning back, opening up a second pack for himself to eat while he listened to her.

His eyebrows knitted together gently when she explained that the NCR 'fucked' her, it wasn't a very good answer, it really didn't tell him much but he had already given her the food.. "Elaborate, if you'd please." He says to her while leaning forward. "Did the NCR kill your family or something? Boyfriend in the Legion?" He theorizes, unsure of what she had meant. He begins to slowly eat his own meal, not wanting to get sick by eating a large amount of carbohydrates all at once.

She tears into her meal and his theory was confirmed, she probably hadn't eaten in a few days. "You don't have to worry about not eating for a little while if you're gonna travel with me, I have enough caps to get us both food on the way to New Vegas." He says to her while watching her with a new look in his eye, it could've been pity or perhaps just infatuation, she was the most confusing person he had had the pleasure of meeting out in the Mojave wastes. "Sorry about turning your life upside down." He says to her quietly. "Our mission was to see if we could make Nipton a settlement again, but now we know that we'll have to fight the Legion for it if we want to accomplish that." He shrugs his shoulders.
 
"Don't you guys usually have some kind of uniform you wear?" Ashley questioned with a frown. Yeah, like she'd be with the Legion. She'd seen how the Legion treated women. "I took shots at you cause' you looked like a bunch of loaded raiders. Those rifles would have got me a nice cap or two." Further answers were... quite delayed. Despite the desire for more information. In fact, she didn't speak another word until she'd gobbled down the enitre meal. Partly to make sure he couldn't take it back after the fact, partly because she'd just been so damn hungry. The terrible taste didn't even matter none.

Afterward, she gave him a sidelong glance. He must have NCR connections, right? She wondered if she could use that to get some more food out of him. Of course, that thought was immediately followed by one noting she'd have to put herself in close proximity to the NCR. That wasn't ideal. "Yeah. Boyfriend in the legion. He wanted to make me the camp whore and I wasn't too keen on that," she said, straight up lying, but what was he going to do?

The offer, though. If she just went as far as New Vegas, she could dump him then, not have to worry about it. "We'll see," she answered, as non-commitally as possible. "I'm getting some sleep. First watch is yours." Turning, she crawled away from where they had been playing cards and back over to her little spot on her wall. From inside her bag, she dug out a little stuffed bear which she positioned under her head as she laid down facing toward the middle of the cave--back against the wall.

Her rifle was left against the wall by her feet, her knees bent in some, like a little spoon, which is where she tossed her back. Closing her eyes, it probably seemed, for a moment, she was just going to sleep. After a short silence, though, she spoke up again: " ... Sorry. For getting your friends killed."

She still didn't really trust him. No hope of getting any sleep tonight. Might as well try, though. Yeah, might as well try...
 
He nods his head to her question. "We do, but we're special forces and a scouting party, so we're not supposed to look like we're NCR when walking into enemy territory." He explains while stretching quietly, it made sense to him but he doubted it would make sense to her, that the NCR was not exactly loved around Nipton and was a shoot on sight kind of deal. They were dressed like civilians rather than Raiders, though maybe their weapons had made it so that they looked as if they had robbed a bunch of military boys to get their weapons.

Ryan shakes his head and laughs. "Well, you certainly gave us quite the scare, we were expecting to get shot at, but not as far as we were away from the main Nipton area." He says while picking up his rifle and checking it over again, knowing that since he had first watch he may have to use it against whatever wanted to challenge their staying the night in the cave. "For some reason I don't believe you." He chuckles, having taken her lie as a joke rather than an insult to their little deal of a fresh start, brushing it off fairly easily.

The soldier bites the inside of his cheek at her non-committal answer, he didn't like it that she wasn't assuring him that they would be together until New Vegas, though he would probably have to leave her once he returned to the NCR office that was within the area. "I'll take it, get some rest." He nods, he really didn't mind taking first watch considering his training to be able to function on little sleep, though it would have been nice to just fall asleep it was really impossible when out in the Wastes.

He stands up to start his watch, assuming that she would just go to sleep. He looks to her when she speaks and nods. "It wasn't your fault.. I hope you sleep well." Ryan says before walking to the entrance of the cave to start his watch, fresh slate meant forgiveness.. The Legion had killed his friends, not Ashley.

For around half the night he sits and watches the entrance, nothing really happening as it was night and the majority of creatures out and about were either away from the hellhole that was Nipton or hunting other creatures to kill. He checks his watch and nods, his shift was over. He walks back inside and sets his rifle down next to his backpack, kneeling next to her and giving her a gentle shake. "It's your watch until morning." He says to her quietly, hoping that she wouldn't wake up from a nightmare and attack him or something.
 
'Special forces, huh... ' Ashley mused as she listened. uncertain if she quite bought it. He was playing pretty hard on the NCR story, maybe it was true. "That makes two of us," she commented on the lack of belief, biting her tongue on adding: 'Well, I wasn't just trying to scare you.' Closing one eye, and half-lidding the other, for what felt like the first time since the morning she let all the tenseness slip from her body as she tried to relax. Perhaps it was exhaustion, perhaps it was the food she just ate sapping all her energy and sending her into a food coma, either way, despite meaning to stay semi-conscious, Ash ended up falling right asleep.

Which always left her jumpy when something woke her up, so when Ryan woke her up not too much longer later, well, she jumped. In fact, her hand even jumped to her waistband to grab her revolver. Granted, groggy as she was, she was a bit slow, fumbled with it, leaving Ryan ample time to be the one who decided whether it ended up pointing at him or pointing off to the side. No shot followed, though. Just a few squeezes of her eyes, a few blinks, and a deep breath or two before she relaxed, and relinquished the weapon back to her holster. "Gonna... gonna have to get used to that."

Sitting up, she ran her hands through her dark hair, pushing the medium-length stands on both sides behind her ears before she slowly both, rose to her feet, and got her armour back in order--top on, buckles secured, form-hugging outfit ready. Grabbing her rifle, and her bag for the extra ammo, she moved her way over to the entrance, settling down, and watching out. Kind of. A few times she found herself drifting off, the kind where your head slowly sinks as your eyes close, then jolts back up. Once or twice, she fell asleep for ten or twenty minutes with her head resting back against the wall she sat against, but never for too long.

Ashley had found herself a nice spot near the entrance with a bit of a long rock poking out from the side. A place to brace part of her rifle on, so she could peer out from the cave using her scope. In the night, she didn't see a whole lot. However, in the twilight after dawn had come, yet before sunrise, she spotted something out moving amongs the crags. People also moving north, the same way they were going. People who immediately made her grit her teeth.

There were five in all, but seven people. Two wore thick collars around their neck, barely any clothes, and had chains connecting them together. Ashley slowly shifted her stance to be more kneeling, rifle properly braced, while picking up a small rock and tossing it over her shoulder in Ryan's direction to wake him. Her hazel eyes were too busy inspecting them to consider taking it off them. Most wore that mercenary-style garbage, but two seemed to have proper lightweight metal armour. At least, she guessed it was, from the bulk, and they all had more weapons than both her and Ryan had.

She moved from person to person as they paused, taking a moment to look over the slaves. One was a small girl, somewhat... familiar, but she couldn't quite place why. A thin redhead. As she wept across to inspect the other, she caught sight of one of the men taking a pair of binoculars and getting up on a high rock to peer about. "Fuck," she whispered harshly. Clearly, they were looking for people. That meant they might come over and check the cave. Of course, they might not. Except, the assholes also had two people with them, and something about the redhead... Ashley wanted to have a chat with her.

Perhaps she was making too many assumptions. Perhaps she should have just ducked away and hid. Perhaps, just perhaps, she should not have hunkered down, picked her mark, and pulled the trigger on her rifle. If nothing else, the report sounded out loud and clear: 'WE'RE OVER HERE!'

1d10 (2) + AGL (6) = 8 vs. DEF 9.

Wherever the shot went, it wouldn't be hitting Mr. Binoculars. Immediately, he dropped down off the rock and behind it. Ashley swept about, spotting two of them taking partial cover behind their slaves, making her hiss. For a moment, she genuinely debated firing regardless. Better dead than a slave, and she's sure the .308s in her rifle would tear through both bodies. For the moment, they didn't appear to be moving up. Which meant they hadn't seen the cave quite yet, and now just knew their general direction. Dammit all.

Another person popped up, and Ashley didn't hesitate. She took the shot.

1d10 (5) + AGL (6) = 11 vs. DEF 9.

And he immediately fell back down, but he was one of the men in the metal armour. She couldn't be sure she killed him, nor even wounded him too badly. It was better than doing nothing at this point, though, she reasoned. The second shot, however, did allow them to get a more precise location on where she was shooting from, leaving her at a bit of a loss. Disarm the mine, head out, and try to escape over the ground before the sun fully came up, or use the chokepoint against them.

In all, from when she threw the rock back toward Ryan, coupled with her two shots, not more than ten or fifteen seconds had passed. It was then she glanced back toward him, a grim look on her face, yet, one her lips crooked up some. "Bet you look good in a bomb collar, Mr. NCR."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom