Company

A soft kicking nudge pushes her right thigh; she flinches awake and a sudden adjustment of her eyes comes easy. The sky, still night, she opens her eyes to see a hint of red of a hat to her right eye and the cloudy twinkling sky to her full vision. The golden iris of her eyes seems to turn on and shine golden to anywho seems to happen upon them. She clicks on her rifle and it hums lightly.

"Friend or foe?" her voice clearly filled with tired and uncaring in irritation of being awoken from a nap. With her question, she slowly turns her head further to her right now full coming to view a man with a blank look of emotion cold and far away.

"You would have already been dead if I was an enemy. Get up off the ground." his voice stern and almost irritated.

She glares and notices him take a step back to gather his thoughts on her golden eyes staring back at him in a warning. She clicks the rifle off and crawls up and straps the rifle to her seat of the bike.

"Look, maybe some of us can't afford a room or choose to save some caps. As for my nap, I believe I need an apology." her bluntness was straight forward and cold despite her having one hundred caps to her pocket.

"And I rather not have someone in the way of patrol and sleep outside with a rifle to her lap and perhaps wake up in a panic to accidentally shoot someone here," he warns now looking straight into her eyes with no hesitation or fears lingering in his. His eyes, she soon notices, reveal that he has been through hell, unafraid of any threat that stands in his way. She then looks up to his beret for confirmation she knew from there he was a sniper like her.

"Ahh...understandable. Tough guy I see. Well, I will take a nap here and leave my rifle on the bike. Good? I am sure you can walk around…" she says snarkily only to watch him walk away and up to the T-Rex statue itself for his night shift. She eyes his shoulders and mutters under her breath. "What a stuck up ass, and wearing sunglasses at night? God…" she clicks her tongue and scuttles back down to her motorcycle and peacefully sits for a while.

Unsettled, she reaches back behind into her saddlebag to grab a book to read to which she passes a few chapters only to fall asleep and lose her place to the upcoming morning's sunlight.

Her eyelids blaze red with the sunlight against her rolling eyes. A light headache inches it's way into her head which causes her to lean up and have her book roll off her lower waist to shut to the dirt ground. She lifts her right hand above her brow to shadow out the sun. The sun had always irritated her for morning times like this, she always had someplace to retreat into, but she had more important things than to wait out the sun and chose to always bear the pain. Looking to her bike then up to the sound of a cowbell she attempts to ask for directions from the incoming merchants.

"Hey may I have a moment to go over where the best route is to head to New Vegas?" she asks as she slowly stands and slips out an old paper map. It crinkles open as she points to Novac that has been marked in red.

"Not right now ma'am, we are in need of rest after a journey." the woman says as the packet on brahmin seems to groan to express the exhaustion throughout the four-man party of wasteland merchants.

"Oh, yes pardon me…" she lowers her head and nibbles her lip nervously in her ignorance of their body emotions. A scuffle of boots stops to her side and a soft rattle sound of a weapon settles.

"I can help you. If I am not too much of an ass for you." The familiar voice softly calls out to aid yet the tone is more out of tiredness than an annoyance. His hand settled to the hunting rifle strap that lingers over his shoulder and rattles behind him.

Examining him close and shooting a gaze to his clothing she looks back to his eyes with an unsure glare. She was not quite sure what to make of this new acquaintance and doubted there is any room to talk despite his more serious and disciplined tone compared to her more blunt, honest, and free going attitude. At this time she would take all the help she could get whether it took some corporation or money she would do it, yet she never held back her mind.

"Well, only an ass would wear sunglasses at night. I would kill to find a pair, anywhere, for free, to have during the daytime. It gives me a headache…" she keeps her hand to her brow now catching the eyes of the merchant. The woman seems to notice her eyes for a split second and she stands up from leaning against her brahmin.

"Wait, hey I know you!" She suddenly smiles and her tired demeanor changes drastically to admiration and she spots the NCR Ranger helmet on her hip. "Oh and that, I delivered that to Primm. You must be Goldeneye, right? Hey, I'll be glad to help you. You helped our trade route there. Those Powder Gangers have too much coverage up close, given their damn dynamite, but hey you are a great ass sniper." she says happily as if Susan was a great hero of Primm, she loved praises but she always pretended to dislike it.

Susan looks away and thinks of how it would feel to shrink from view from them. She then slowly leans to her bike's seat with a sly smile and crosses a leg over the other. Now looking to Boone she seems to hope for some interference but she is kind at heart despite the painful headache.

"Hey, it is no problem I was more or so in it for the caps. I also was in need of one of these for the windy sandy nights." She lifts her left hand to pat the helmet all the while now turning her eyes to the woman merchant. She had always tried to seem other than herself and more so like a jackass to keep people from asking too much of her. Keeping the map folded to her right hand above her brow, Boone snatches it quickly. Wanting silence, he draws a line along the north roads using the red marker she had in her fingers.

"There...just head along the north main roads. Or just follow the bright lights, it isn't a big deal...not even for us snipers." His voice stern and shaky with the lack of sleep, he places the map and marker to the back of her seat and heads to his motel room.

"What is his problem?" Susan asks with a scoff as she picks up her map as he leaves the small courtyard.

"Oh him? From what I know he has been here a while. A couple of years ago his wife had disappeared, not sure where to but he is also a 1st Recon sharpshooter, NCR, retired, I think. You can tell by that beret." she says with crossed arms and a concerned look and voice.

"Huh…" she frowns a bit, having known the feeling and still experiencing it from time to time. That feeling would make anyone helpless or angry especially from her point of view. She leans back up to stand, eyes the map and pouts her bottom lip in thought.

"So this motorcycle works?" the merchant asks curiously having never really seen one so packed like a brahmin and only have seen some being used as decor.

"Yeah, I am not all guns and such. It took a few years but I handled it, roughly…" she shrugs with a smirk, "But I handled the complications." she smiles slyly at her pride and smarts. Done with scanning over the map she folds it back to the inner pocket of her duster. "Thanks for the attempt of helping me. I should be going now, I am on a Legion hunt." she snickers a bit to show as if she is kidding.

She was never good at lying nor at hiding her true thoughts due to her years of being used to her own company and thoughts yet she had always had a way with her words. Her words were the only thing she stood by, from promises to new-found knowledge, to having her intentions known through her ideas and wisdom.

"Seriously? I wish you luck then ma'am. You are going to need it. They are almost everywhere nowadays including small camps out there. That's why we always travel in groups and with hired guns, nowhere is safe while this war is going on." she groans and waves a soft goodbye to Susan before sitting to her rolled blanket to rest.

Susan takes a moment to take a break after hearing her stomach growl. She shifts herself to now look through her saddlebag and pull out a canned Salisbury steak. Pulling it free of the box she glances around then seeing what seems to be the motel owner comes from a hotel room then to the front desk door. The African American man waves to her. She lifts her can of food up as a cheer and thinks back a second. For her past visit, she had vaguely remembered an old lady in charge yet she does not question it for a moment. She sucks in a breath as she then walks toward the front desk lobby and tosses her can away to the trash. Quickly she brushes the corners of her mouth to seem presentable. She smiles at the man trying to remember his name to her knowledge she surprisingly remembers.

"Good morning Cliff!" she smiles welcomingly, "I remember you were at the gift shop, are you running both now? I swear I can recall��"

"No, you are right I am just looking after things while she is away." he smiles in return seemingly unbothered by it and kept to his routine.

"Ah alright, uh restroom?" she asks quickly to cut the chat and to deal with herself. He effortlessly points to the door close by and she goes to her business.

After she is done she returns outside and exits to a surprise she sucks in a surprised breath. Now eyeing Boone once again he seems bothered a bit and quite bored.

"I heard you are hunting Legion. I am joining you. I need a break from here." His tone is simple and straight to the point.

"Wait, I don't even know you...why in the hell would I accept you to join me?" she scoffs and crosses her arms in disbelief of this man.

"I know where Legion camps are nearby so I can keep an eye out on your back. Snipers work best together and besides, I am from-"

"First Recon sharpshooter from NCR yeah I know. My father was a Ranger and talked about all the good branches of NCR." she grumbles and sighs. "I am sure you overheard me talking and you know more about me than I do you. So you just want to kill Legion? That's it?" she lifts a brow, clearly untrustworthy toward this man. Relaxing her arms she lightly shoves him out of her way to her right and she steps past to come to her motorcycle and straps her rifle to her back.

"That is what I said...I will discuss the reason later or never. The name is Craig or just Boone." his voice deepens as he leans closer, clearly keeping something away from other ears. He follows at her side as she then kicks up the bike stand and shoves the bike back out of the gates and to the road away from the merchants to quietly start up the engine.

"Susan, Susan La'Grange or just call me by my alias." she smiles and soon forces her weight to the kickstart bar and it roars back alive. She adjusts her wrist to the throttle and sways her leg over the seat keeping her hands sternly on the handlebars. Sitting comfortably now she notices the surprised expression over his face having an old relic, the bike, actually work. "What? You have every right to be surprised towards someone you don't know. As I was once taught, 'take a risk' with experiments and crafting though, so come on. I am sure you wouldn't mind hanging onto me." she reaches her left hand back and pats the passenger seat with a clever challenging smile. "Just don't lose that beret…" she shifts her rifle to sway to the front of her instead cradling it closely along across her chest, her lap was full of its stock. She double checks the switch and sighs with relief.

"I'll be fine...just follow the road I mapped out." his voice filled with worry at the new experience ahead of him. He clings hard to the strap of his rifle across his chest. He balances his body on the seat as she keeps a foot down before revving the engine and setting off along the road heading north.

The silent drive is what bothered her the most. She was hoping for a more talkative company but he had to do. In her defense, she would rather have a person do the talking rather than her. At times she had dealt with being by herself and was used to pushing people away so she had chosen to stay home and use her time to learn things that are majorly forgotten. For a long, while they made it past Trading Post 188, she had heard of the good trades but her mother had mentioned the oddness of the place and avoided it altogether. It was not her thing. Onward along into the afternoon, she stopped for bathroom breaks and at lunch, she took time to converse.

"So it seemed you wanted out of there really bad. You sure pried along in my business too. Any reason for that?" she asks bluntly over a popped open Sarsaparilla.

"Just to know who I am dealing with. But any reason to hunt down Legion or kill them is good as any reason," he mutters over the lip of the bottle and swigs back.

She lightly burps and covers her lips with a soft chuckle and shrugs. "Well to each their own then, yet I am sure I will be on the same page with you. I am not so cold about it. Any reason why you are?" she grows concerned for him and simply silences to his answer or his very own silence.

"My wife is dead, and she was sold to the Legion. Her seller so happened to be an old cold woman by the name of Jeannie May Crawford." His voice was cold and blank just as it was the first time he had spoken to her.

Her face melts to an open-mouthed expression of surprise and dismay to the newfound side of the woman. "Wait...you sure? She seems nothing like that."

"Seemed...seemed nothing like that. I killed her, no one knows but I was on break to their knowledge. She had a writ of sale for proof of giving my wife up, typical of them. A stranger helped me. Sadly the only one I could trust." he says deeply as if uncaring. Susan would have not cared either, not if someone she loved was taken away from her to a place of suffering rather than the release of death, still, that was not her case, but she understood clearly. Her hate was strong against the Legion but not to such an extent. She had morals that kept her from such and she would not choose such savagery to go on a complete hunt and rage toward them no matter how much they deserved it. To her, that would mean becoming one of them, and she could not live with that.

"That...I am sorry to hear that. Never thought someone such as her would do that. Crazy what people would do for some caps." she frowns and looks back down to her bottle and swirls it a bit. She thinks over it and thinks about her mother and the thought seems strong enough to point for her mother to have been taken too but not in the same way. No one in Primm would have done such a deed, if then, the Legion would have had to deal with NCR and the Powder Gangers around her town making it not worthwhile and wasting supplies and perhaps lives.

"Then it is safe to say we have much common ground then. For me, I will be honest. I know and am sure my mother must have been captured by the Legion. She has to be in an enslavement camp, but I rather check than just let the hope of her being alive go. I am headed to the Strip to achieve a dream in her honor. I figure she must be dead...a voice tells me no, so afterward I will search for some information and hope I am not too late…" she had taken her mother's words to the heart of wanting to see the city with her mother at her side and Susan promised to see it if she was to not be home. In return, she would draw pictures or happen across a camera to make it memorable. "She had wished and begged for me to enjoy myself, rather than be stuck at home while I still can before she went missing or on a job so I am doing so. I will at least then relax for a moment rather than fall to anger and go mad in a killing spree if she has been captured," she says slowly and yawns. She thinks over the shame she had given up on herself and stayed home for the two years to finish up her bike to make her trips quick. During that time it had just urged her to figure out the truth of a long time of her mother's disappearance. Why it has been two years, which was abnormal in all of the years with her family. Having doubted that feeling and accepted it, she would never bring up one fact that had dug deep and bothered her the most.

Boone keeps his eyes to her through his glasses and seems unmoved by her comparison of them. He sighs lightly and shrugs but he accepts her wisdom and choice and keeps his mocking and rude thoughts to himself. If it was not for his respect for a fellow sniper he would have told her that she is cowardly and that she should immediately look for her mother as he would have done the same.

"Wise of you. It is good to take advice but not sure what you plan to do in the Strip, a lot is going on. I suggest going to the Embassy though. They should point you in the right direction." he informs her and tosses the now empty bottle over his shoulder and it hits the rocky ground with a shattering of glass.

"Sure thing. I plan to do so. For the time I hope we don't run across anything, I am not really up for such a task." she smirks and drinks back the rest of the soda and sighs with enjoyment.

"Ready to go? I am sure you would like to get there before dark," she says suddenly and she keeps quiet for a moment before overhearing gunshots. It has her on edge and she then ducks low to keep from the sight of any wandering eyes. Crouching now she grabs her rifle close and clicks the safety. Hoping it to be raiders rather than Legion she shuffles away from their rest spot and over a small hill. Her helmet clanks a bit to her hip and she lays to her stomach now seeing where the sound had come from. Her tan arms and their scars peer out from the cut sleeves of her duster as she readies to take aim to help anyone in need. She presses the stock comfortably to her right shoulder. For one second she looks to Boone who slides next to her in unison. She smiles proudly and peers back through her scope keeping only her attention ahead of her near the road. NCR was handling a small party of six Legion against their three. She sucks in a breath before helping pick one-off. Her right hand's finger tugs then snap closed the trigger. Its microfusion shot echoed off as it spray-painted the Legioner's head into a splash of blood and bone. She easily shifts as if on a rotating table to the next and shoots at his metal-plated shoulder. It tings loudly yet splatter clean off his arm, it had burned right through to his flesh. She exhales and keeps her left eye closed tight in focusing through her next sighting. She suddenly feels a tug at her ankle she had missed a seventh Legioner that had kept well hidden. Being dragged a bit the red-faced wrapped man growls with a machete in his hand. Her eyes shoot open at the feeling of being drug back from the edge of the hill; she lets go of the rifle immediately and reaches to her magnum with urgency. She would rather have counted on her guns than her knife and her fists. Having always been inaccurate and uncoordinated with melee combat, she would use it at the last breath and if she was out of ammo. The sudden time seemed to go slow as he raised his weapon above him and sent his machete down targeting her right knee. Boone had heard his footsteps and had caught it when she had gasped. He had given her knife a tug from her left thigh and threw it to his neck. A gargle rumbled from the Legioner's gaped open mouth and he tumbled to his knees and crashed over to leave a small dusty spatter to his fall. She scrambles up to her elbows; this had been her only taste of being close to death and she rather had a stiff drink.

"Boone the NCR." she ushers on to change the shocking factor and stay on task. They both scramble back to their scopes and keep still only to find out the men had taken care of the rest. She then narrows her eye to the waving soldiers, having relieved smiles before they continue on their route. She huffs a breath and sinks herself back to the edge of the small hill and hugs her rifle close. She closes her eyes for the moment and grins with relief and huffing a sigh with the utter adrenaline rumbling her chest.

"You concentrate a bit too hard. You need to be vigilant of all your surroundings. Come on, there may be more we need to move. We are just a few more miles to the east entrance." he says low and he gazes at her, majorly surprised at her skills yet never would think she would be oblivious to someone coming up behind her and slow to react. Both cling again to the straps of their rifles and sway it to their backs.

"I am on it, I just have to fill up the tank real quick…" she opens her golden eyes and sits up suddenly and rocks to her feet and follows behind him back to her bike.

She unlatches the right saddle to grip a gas canister, it's simple red chipped colored paint peels away a bit as she pulls it free. Uncapping the black cap of the metal nozzle she then unscrews the tank cap of her bike and fills up the tank using all of the canister giving it five gallons in gas. She looks to the gas gauge and taps it. It fixes right to half a tank.

"Boone, let me know if you can spot any intact vehicles or gas stations. I am needing some gas soon. Just to fill these up of course." she taps the metal jerry can and stuffs it back to the right saddle and lifts over a leg to get comfortable on the seat.

"Sure thing. Just keep watch of anything on the road," he says low before fixing his beret and reaches his arms up to stretch for the road ahead.

"Oh and Boone…"

"Hum?" he responds.

"Thanks for having my back. I am incompetent in thinking about close combat. Just never got the hang of it. I was reaching for my pistol instead. Glad you used my knife...m-my knife!" she says suddenly as she had forgotten about it and gripped her left thigh in a sputter of breath.

"Calm down kid, I have it right here. I figured it was important since it is your only melee weapon. Last options are the last options. I understand it all too well." he pats his hip with the handle of her combat knife and holds it out to her to grip.

She grunts to the name of 'kid' and rolls her eyes. "I am just twenty-three and have learned enough," she says and slowly grips the knife and returns it to the thigh strap. "Thanks once again. It was my fathers before he was sent out to the battle of the Dam. He was one of a kind." She smiles into the reflection of the blade and notices small smears of blood from where he tried to clean it.

"His name must be on the Memorial there then…" he mentions low before she kickstarts the engine and has it roar for a moment as she adjusts the mirrors and checks valves.

"No, he didn't die there, he just disappeared or in fact killed but he was reported as MIA," she says over her left moving shoulder from where she kneels.

"Same difference, Susan," he says normally now, as if in an understanding of having such hope but he had given up on such ideals. She hears the off-tone of him saying her name. She takes no offense to his words and simply puts it behind her and only looks to her future just as she had done when having heard of her father's disappearance four years ago.

"Well, no reason to dawdle then hop on." she chuckles as she sits and looks back to the front of her and down to her rifle she had twisted out of the way for Boone. Aside from the warmth of the sun on her shoulders, she could feel the eyes of his stare at her back.

He had gazed at the three claw scars both sets on both of her shoulders peer out at him, a story he wanted to know, yet felt he was not on good terms with her, aside from saving her a leg. The paler and bulged up healed flesh compared to her suntanned skin had yelled out to him, but it did not tell him outright what beast it had developed from. With that moment, she continued getting his mind to be free of the idea as the motorcycle began to move and he focused a right hand to the top of his beret keeping it in place from any side swiping winds. The ride was smooth and peaceful; it had given her time to figure out she was not the only one to have fallen victim to such monstrosities out in the wastes. She felt concerned nonetheless for others, full sympathy more so to Boone. Noticing their many similarities, she soon easily understood him and respected him.