the tower.

[shortstraw]

It started in Novac, in that lovely Dino Dee-Lite Motel by the dilapidated gas station.

He had told her they could be found in the upper corner room, living the Post-War American dream. If not there, they had others: cabins, bunkers, safehouses, and the like. He gave her all the map points, confident in their future whereabouts. And above all, he was certain they would never be in the New Vegas, beneath the bright lights of the Strip.

The motel room had been empty. The Brotherhood safehouse and the cabin by Jacobstown also held no occupants. After traveling nearly the entire width of the Mojave Wasteland, moving from town to fucking town, she finally caught a whiff of him in Freeside.

The crier for Mick & Ralph's had seen a man matching Alex Seattle Geer's description lately, headed directly into the heavily guarded gates of the New Vegas Strip.

Judas, Sarah had thought. Blood betrayer. She then walked the road back to the Dino Dee-Lite Motel, to that cozy little upper room in the corner, and left Alex a very nice surprise.

Three days later, after finding the presidential suite of the Tops woefully empty, Sarah corners a man in the streets. Their exchange proves short, and with his pockets noticeably heavier, the guy walks the short distance to the center of the road. There, with the Vault Dweller looking on, he straightens to attention and produces a piece of paper from his pockets.

"Ladies and gentleman of New Vegas, may I have your attention please?" he reads, voice clear to the nearby bystanders and vigilant Securitrons. "It is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you a Very Important Person--" The man looks over his shoulder briefly, a quizzical look on his face. "Why is it capitalized?" he asks.

"Go on," she mouths, waving lazily at the gathering crowd.

He shrugs and continues as directed. "Someone who has traveled a great distance and sacrificed a good deal of time, bullets, and money to be here with you fine folks. She is the Champion of the Holy Thirteen, the Swan Song of the Master and His Most Unholy Unity, the Keeper of All Your Dogs, a Sometimes Friend to You and I... I present to you: The Vault Dweller!"

Comments

[goodfight]

ED-E insists otherwise, and Neil runs a gentle hand across the smooth chassis. "In spirit," he clarifies, ignoring that they're continuing a conversation with two other people.

One of those very people even decide to do her overbearing mommy thing and comment on his figure. For any other, Neil would have stared outright. For Sarah Marks, he flusters, attempting and failing to hold to calm. "I only lost ten pounds," he returns, indignant.

[duraframe]

Sarah comes over, and something in ED-E is pleased at that. At her comment though, ED-E wiggles in Neil's hands, rushing to defend.

I've been feeding him, he squawks, trilling into a beep. It's only been one day and a half. He'll gain it with the calories I've been providing.

He ignores Alex's laugh, indignant.

[doubletap]

Sarah cuddles, and Alex fights the brief pang of jealously, replacing it with being able to share--his boyfriend and his mommy. She points out the weight loss, and Neil points out just how much, making Alex give a displeased sound.

ED-E however, rushes to defend Neil, which is new, and is adamant enough to make Alex chuckle. "Just what have you been feeding him?"

[shortstraw]

Ten pounds is ten pounds too many, but a defensive and caring eyebot somewhat makes up for the lack. Sarah peers over Neil's shoulder at ED-E, the sound of smirking in her voice. "Yeah, what?" she echoes.

[goodfight]

The question is a trap. Neil had agreed some years ago to lay off irradiated crap from Pre-War America. Crap he's been shoveling into his mouth for the past day and a half, all to appease a worried eyebot. After ED-E rushed to his defense, which is new, how could the man not do the same?

"Stuff we found around Goodsprings," he replies evenly. "And the mutfruit I originally brought with."

[duraframe]

The amused humans make him irritated, and he buzzes out of Neil's grasp to scoldingly burble at Alex. Alex holds up his hands in front of Neil, looking contrite.

ED-E buzzes, then returns to the conversation, listing off a bunch of pre-war foods.

[doubletap]

ED-E is on edge and irritated at their attempt at keeping it light, and Alex realizes that ED-E is being defensive of Neil actively, not just because Alex told him to watch him. So he raises his hands, apologizing in that way, and when ED-E lists off food that was likely irradiated, Alex doesn't make any face at all.

Just returns his hands where they were, cuddling around Neil. "Yeah, I figured something like that. At least you were eating."

[shortstraw]

A-dor-able! Really. She could just barf from the show of genuine care and abject irritation, and as Alex offers his apologies and they return to their exchange, Sarah simply smiles, smiles, smiles.

Let them have this conversation. Let her listen for now.

[goodfight]

...So ED-E goes off on Alex, which has Neil staring outright. Has him blushing lightly, a detail he cannot adequately begin to explain why. Finally, when Alex holds up his hands in apology and returns them to Neil, the younger man thinks to add his thoughts to the list of food.

"It was kinda nice eating Dandy Boy Apples again," he says. "Reminded me of old times." Better days.

[doubletap]

While ED-E hovers protectively above the group and Sarah is content to sit close to them, Alex is never content with how they are. He always wants to hold Neil tighter, closer, and like always, this isn't enough.

Despite the conversation he had with Sarah, he thinks to speak here. "You should have it sometimes. As a dessert or something. As long as it's not your main nutrition." And also--

"...Sorry for just showing up. I know you said you didn't want me around."

[goodfight]

To Neil's surprise, Alex offers a concession, something the younger man never really considered. He finds himself chuckling and leaning back into Alex (and consequently Sarah). "I can live with dessert."

The reparation, however-- "Don't," Neil interjects, ignoring the sudden tightening from the Vault Dweller's hold. "Listen, I was just being an asshole. I couldn't handle what happened, and I took it out on you."

A pause. "So I'm sorry."

[doubletap]

Alex tugs Neil gently out from under Sarah, pulling his legs until he's sideways in Alex's lap, all the better to cuddle with. Alex kisses his forehead, then holds Neil's head against his shoulder. He nuzzles his hair. "...Tell mommy what interesting things are in Goodsprings to see."

[shortstraw]

"Hey!" Sarah was mighty comfortable in how they were. Alex, however, insists on snuggling with his boyfriend, and who is she to do anything beyond whining? She shifts accordingly.

Great-grandma stays close, though, with her hand touching Neil's arm and her arm against Alex's knee. "Aside from geckos," she adds.

[goodfight]

His person pulls him closer, pressing lips to his forehead, and Neil thinks he's home. He feels emptier, lonelier, and his perception of self twists more and more beyond recognition, but he is here. With Alex.

Enough. It is enough.

"And friends who aren't there." He swallows down the laughter that bubbles upward, trying to behave. "There are cazadors to the north. A creepy-ass cemetery to the northeast. They have a saloon, a general store, and quaint Pre-War houses. People raise bighorners and crops here. It's a nice place." More kind than not.

[doubletap]

"Hey, I like that cemetery," Alex protests. He spreads the fingers of his hand, broad enough that he can reach to touch her hand on his knee while still touching Neil. He smiles at her. "It's where I was buried, after all. You gotta have a certain fondness."

That is to say, he hated it.

[shortstraw]

Hidden and safe, Sarah raises an eyebrow. She remembers the story, the being-shot-in-the-face-twice prologue that sparked the rest. "Gotta hold some special feelings about a place you almost died in," she agrees.

Quietly, she takes Alex's hand and squeezes.

[goodfight]

"Yeah," Neil continues blandly, watching mother and son bond. "That's why I don't like that cemetery. That and the whispers."

Stupid whispers. "I got to lay in Alex's makeshift grave, though."

[doubletap]

Sarah squeezes his hand and ED-E buzzes somewhere behind them and Neil mentions not liking that for the reason of Alex being shot and he feels fucking warm at this, after all this time.

So he plays his part and acts growly. "Which is always a turn on."

[shortstraw]

To even her own delight and surprise, Sarah Marks laughs, the sound bright and sharp in the stale air behind the mask. "Well, that's one thing I've never done," she replies. "Laying in my lover's grave."

No, just sat beside it for some time, but that is neither here nor there.

[goodfight]

The Vault Dweller laughs, and somehow, the tones throw him off balance. Brings him back to the fact of loss. Death and lovers and children.

Somehow, he lets the thought go. "The experience was weirder than I thought it was going to be," he continues. "You should try it; that hole is probably still there."

[duraframe]

ED-E beeps in protest to this conversation, coming back toward them to shake unhappily. It's not a funny thing, that Alex had been shot.

[doubletap]

Alex responds to ED-E first, noticing the upset and the way he thinks they're being serious. Alex whistles their "all clear," a sound to show there's no threats. ED-E stops shaking and hovers unhappily, and Alex smiles at him openly. "They're just being silly about it. No one actually wants to be reminded of things like that. Or to actually lay in a lover's grave," he adds to Sarah.

"And anyway," Alex goes on, raising an eyebrow at Neil. "I covered that in when you moved into Goodsprings. I guess that shows you really don't like that cemetery."

[shortstraw]

Baby bot is unhappy at their ridiculousness, to which Sarah rises to her feet. "Sorry, kid," she returns, languidly stretching. "Keep forgetting black humor isn't your style." Nor is the idea of laying in a hole that is no longer there--for anyone, truth be told. It makes an old lady wanna take a walk.

"I'll skip out on the cemetery, then. That saloon, on the other hand, sounds pretty promising," she says lazily, eyeing the two men. Wondering if they might need a moment together. "Would you like to take a little break and join me, ED-E? Maybe help me buy some food for the malnourished human?"

[goodfight]

Neil keeps quiet to nearly all comments, offering only a raised hand at ED-E in apology. It ain't fair, he realizes, to be morbid about things, especially when it was only making someone unhappy. Reminding that someone of potential loss.

Thus, the man turns his attention to Alex, to watch him for a long minute. The comment regarding his perspective has him tensing, staying as such until Sarah speaks of seeing the Prospector's Saloon. For now, he finds that he can't answer Alex. Not yet, at least.

"Oh, uh," he tells the woman instead, "I'm good on food, thanks."

[duraframe]

Alex clarifies and Neil waves and Sarah talks about black humor, and ED-E knows that they are all hurting. That they are all full of holes and not just from bullets and that they think he doesn't understand, not entirely.

But Alex loves him, and Neil had said, yes, they are friends, and Sarah had told him that she wanted to be with them, too, and ED-E thinks maybe it's not that they think he's incapable of understanding, but more that they have a hard time, and a harder time speaking of it.

He buzzes quietly, before whistling a query to Alex. He smiles back and shoos him toward Sarah. He pauses a moment longer before clarifying. You need more food. Let us take care of you.

Then zips off, leading the way down the hill.