Adam arrived at the highway not long after and parked his APC at the entrance. The two ghouls were already waiting for him so he popped out of the APC for a moment to greet them. Both men looked ready for a fight, in some sort of makeshift armor and with old, but moderately strong, weapons.
“You boys ready?” Adam asked casually as he approached.
“Yeah, though let me make one thing clear.” Greg said as he approached and then grabbed the collar of Adam’s Vault Suit. “If you are lying or trying to fuck us over, I swear to god I will-” He started, with a threatening tone before Salvatore interrupted him.
“Or you’ll what?” Salvatore said, standing in the hatch of the APC, holding his rifle out, pointed at Greg, a no nonsense tone in his words. Greg looked surprised to see Salvatore then looked at Adam, back at Salvatore, and then let Adam go.
“Just… don’t fuck around.” He said, far more sheepish this time as he backed off and Salvatore lowered his rifle. Adam gestured to the APC.
“Hop in. I know I said I’d charge for this trip, but for the sake of fairness, I will charge you when we get back. You won’t pay me if I’m wrong.” He offered, hoping to smooth the tension a bit. Greg just sighed and headed towards the back of the APC to get inside. Deccanus and Salvatore swapped positions, Salvatore sitting in the back with the two ghouls and Deccanus up in the front with Adam. Then, once they were all settled, they set back out.
The drive was pretty boring all things considered. Adam turned on the radio and listened to Ray’s radio station. It was nice to just relax and listen to music, though it did bring a curious question to his mind.
“Deccanus, what kind of music do you like?” He asked, completely out of nowhere. Deccanus remained silent for a few moments, perhaps considering the question before answering.
“I… do not know.” He said slowly. “I suppose I have never spent much of my life listening to music to have an opinion.” He then turned to look at Adam. “What of you? What music do you like?”
“Blues and Jazz, mostly.” Adam said with a small rocking of his head in consideration. “Though I more or less like anything if it's good. Still, anything from the turn of the decade… I mean 2070 and after was not my speed. I liked the older classics.”
“Was music… big in the past?” Deccanus asked curiously.
“Oh yes.” Adam said with a smile. “There were a ton of radio stations you could tune into, each dedicated to a different genre of music, and each varied in their playlists. Music was in movies, it was in TV shows, it was even on the news. You could go see a concert live, or enjoy some jazz at a club, you had plenty of options, honestly.” Deccanus remained silent again before speaking back up.
“I think… I like folk songs, ones that sang of life in the wastes, the stories of old, the stories of struggle.” Adam nodded.
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“That makes sense. You said yourself you like stories after all.”
“That is true. Though even without the lyrics I believe if I were to choose I enjoy the simplistic nature of that music. It reminds me of the days when I would be with my Legion, around the campfire, sharing stories.”
“Music is powerful like that. It helps connect people.”
“I suppose so.” Deccanus said back. “Though it was rare for there to be music in my life. If there were drums they were for war. I suppose I never considered it a worthy use of my time.”
“And now?”
“I think… I would find it a worthwhile pursuit… though perhaps less so than the many other avenues I can take. I am interested in trying another movie sometime.” Adam smiled.
“Well if you ever want to watch it together let me know, I am a huge fan of movies so I’d love to have a movie friend.”
“A friend for movie watching? Interesting. Perhaps, yes, that might be enjoyable.”
The trip continued to be long and boring but no surprises was a good thing. Still it took a good many hours to get to the FRS from the highway settlement so it was quite a boring time spent. Adam was not overly looking forward to making this trip a ton more times if the ghouls decide to move, but it was easy money and he truly did not need to throw himself into danger to scrounge together every cap he earned. It was okay to take an easy path now and again. Even if his adrenaline junkie blood was itching for action.
Eventually they arrived outside the FRS and saw it left almost exactly as he had left it, dead bodies of supermutants laying untouched, now rotting. Though there were some bloatflies that had gathered to feast on the bodies. It had not been that long since he was here, after all, though to see it completely untouched was a bit surprising, but not unwelcomed.
Deccanus was the first out of the APC, he jumped off the top and ran straight towards the bloatflies, fearlessly cutting down their number before Adam could even emerge to help him.
By the time Adam had opened the troop transport door, and pulled himself out of the hatch, the bloatflies were all dead.
“You know, one of these days I should take a lesson from you on sword fighting. I have some combat training from the army in CQC but it pales in comparison to your skills. It would be nice to have a close range combat option available in my tool belt.” Adam said as he subconsciously adjusted his actual toolbelt around his waist.
“I would be gratified to teach you.” Deccanus said as he cleaned off his machete and wiped a bit of blood from his face. “Though I only know Legion methods, and they are quite challenging.” He said with a serious tone.
“I like a challenge.” Adam smirked.
“Will you two get a room? We got work to do.” Salvatore said as he came out in front of the APC, flanked by Greg and the other guy from the highway all while smoking a cigarette.
“You are right.” Adam said with a nod to Salvatore and then turned to the two other ghouls. “This is the FRS, as I said we killed all the super mutants here, as you can see.” Adam said, kicking the body of one super mutant on the ground.
“I feel like you have become a real estate agent.” Salvatore said offhandedly as Adam made his introduction.
“If you feel that way now, wait until we get inside and I give them a tour. I will really feel like a real estate agent then.” Adam grinned at him. Deccanus looked at the two men confused, having no idea what they were talking about but did not question it. Perhaps it was as simple as he had no idea what a real estate agent was. Salvatore and Adam were from the pre-war after all, but Deccanus was not. Maybe the Legion did not have real estate agents? In either case Adam then headed inside, ready to give a short tour to the two who came along and see if this would truly make a good home for settlers.
